GloriaChiang

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84643&src=fb

The last day of October—Halloween—is a popular holiday in North America and some parts of Europe. In Ireland, people celebrate with bonfires and fireworks. In the United States, children put on costumes and head out for a night of begging candy from neighbors. In Mexico, the day inspires introspection about the deceased.

Where did the idea for Halloween come from and when did people start celebrating it? A festival with a long history, Halloween has gone through several transformations, absorbing traditions and excluding others depending on the social norms and popular fads of the time. Modern Halloween is largely a mashup of ideas and rituals associated with an ancient Celtic New Year’s festival, the Catholic-inspired All Saint’s Day and All Souls’ Day, and the Protestant Guy Fawkes Day.

Most historians trace the earliest origins of Halloween to Samhain, a Celtic harvest festival. The multi-day celebration marked the beginning of winter during pre-Christian times in what is now Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, the Isle of Man, and northern France. The fall harvest and annual slaughter of livestock made Samhain a time of feasting and heavy drinking, but historians also describe Samhain as a sacred and somewhat ominous time. Doorways to a supernatural world of ghosts and spirits were said to open during Samhain, and the Celts believed the deceased could interact with and even harass the living.

One important tradition associated with Samhain was the bonfire. Before the eve of Samhain, Celtic priests would construct a large fire on a hill in central Ireland that was thought to have an especially close connection to the supernatural realm. The Hill of Ward, or Tlachtga, is located just west of Athboy, Ireland. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this image of the landscape surrounding the Hill of Ward on April 18, 2014. As part of the fire festival, Celtic priests would distribute embers from the bonfire to households throughout the realm. Thousands of ceremonial bonfires would light up the night on Samhain, and people would dance around the fires to ward off evil spirits and encourage the Sun not to vanish for the winter.

By the seventh century, Catholicism had arrived in the British Isles. Rather than banning pagan festivals, the church established Christian alternatives. In the eighth century, November 1 was set as All Saints Day. Later, November 2 became All Souls Day. Both were established as days to honor and pray for the deceased and to attend special Masses. As the population converted, these holidays absorbed some of the old traditions and sentiment that originated with Samhain. In fact, All Saint’s Day, which used to be called All Hallows Day, gave Halloween (All Hallows Eve) its modern name.

The Protestant Reformation brought another evolution to the celebration. As Protestant reformers came to power, they banned All Saint’s Day and All Souls’ Day. But many traditions lived on and continued to evolve because of the establishment of Guy Fawkes Day, an early November holiday that saluted the capture of an anti-protestant revolutionary. Guy Fawkes Day was celebrated with bonfires, feasts, turnip-carving, begging pennies from neighbors, and other mischief-making that have had an important influence on modern celebrations of Halloween.

References and Further Reading
American Folklife Festival (2014, October 30) Halloween: The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows. Accessed October 31, 2014.
Bannatyne, L. (2005) Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History (Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company)
BBC (2014, October 30) Hill of Ward: Did Halloween begin on ‘magical’ ancient site? Accessed October 31, 2014.
Huffington Post (2014, October 30) The history of Halloween. Accessed October 31, 2014.
Knowth Tlachtga: Hill of Ward. Accessed October 31, 2014.
Morton, L. (2012) Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (London: Reaktion Books)
University of Albany The Origins of Halloween. Accessed October 31, 2014.

10月的最後一天（萬聖節）是北美和歐洲部分地區的熱門假期。在愛爾蘭，人們以篝火和煙花慶祝。在美國，孩子們穿上服裝，然後晚上向鄰居乞討糖果。在墨西哥，這一天激發了對死者的內省。

萬聖節的想法從何而來，人們何時開始慶祝它？萬聖節是一個歷史悠久的節日，它經歷了數個轉變，吸收了傳統，並根據當時的社會規範和流行風尚排除了其他傳統。現代萬聖節在很大程度上是與古老的凱爾特新年節，受天主教啟發的“萬聖節”和“所有靈魂日”以及新教徒蓋伊·福克斯節相關的各種思想和儀式的集合。

大多數歷史學家將萬聖節的最早起源追溯到薩姆海因（Samhain），這是凱爾特人的豐收節。歷時多天的慶祝活動標誌著基督教時代之前冬天的開始，現在是愛爾蘭，蘇格蘭，威爾士，英格蘭，曼島和法國北部。秋季的收成和牲畜的年度宰殺使薩姆海恩度過了盛宴和大量飲酒的時間，但是歷史學家們也將薩姆海因描述為神聖的，不祥的時期。據說在薩姆海恩期間，通往幽靈和神靈超自然世界的門打開了，凱爾特人認為死者會與人互動，甚至騷擾生命。

篝火是與Samhain相關的一項重要傳統。在薩姆海因（Samhain）前夕之前，凱爾特人的牧師將在愛爾蘭中部的一座山上燃起一場大火，人們認為這與超自然領域有著特別緊密的聯繫。病房山或Tlachtga位於愛爾蘭Athboy的西部。 2014年4月18日，Landsat 8上的Operational Land Imager（OLI）採集了沃德山周圍景觀的這張圖片。作為消防節的一部分，凱爾特神父將篝火上的餘燼分發給整個領域的家庭。數以千計的禮拜篝火將在薩姆海因（Samhain）上點燃夜晚，人們將在篝火旁跳舞，以抵禦邪靈並鼓勵太陽在冬天不滅。

到七世紀，天主教傳入不列顛群島。教會沒有禁止異教節日，而是建立了基督教的替代品。在八世紀，11月1日定為“諸聖日”。後來，11月2日成為“萬靈節”。兩者都是為了紀念死者並為死者祈禱並參加特殊群眾而設立的日子。隨著人口的轉變，這些假期吸收了一些起源於薩姆海因的古老傳統和情感。實際上，過去被稱為“全聖節”的“全聖節”為萬聖節（“全聖夜”）命名為現代名稱。

新教改革為慶祝活動帶來了另一種發展。新教改革家上台後，他們禁止了“聖日”和“萬靈節”。但是由於蓋伊·福克斯紀念日（Guy Fawkes Day）的建立，許多傳統得以延續並繼續發展，這是11月初的假期，向被捕的反新教革命分子致敬。蓋伊·福克斯節（Guy Fawkes Day）的慶祝活動包括篝火晚會，蘿蔔盛宴，蘿蔔雕刻，鄰居討價還價以及其他惡作劇活動，這些活動對現代萬聖節的慶祝活動都產生了重要影響。

參考資料和進一步閱讀
美國民俗生活節（2014年10月30日）萬聖節：所有萬聖節的幻想和民間傳說2014年10月31日訪問。
Bannatyne，L.（2005）萬聖節：美國假日，美國歷史（洛杉磯，格雷塔納：Pelican Publishing Company）
BBC（2014年10月30日），沃德山莊：萬聖節是從“神奇的”古老遺址開始的嗎？ 2014年10月31日訪問。
Huffington Post（2014年10月30日），萬聖節的歷史。 2014年10月31日訪問。
Knowth Tlachtga：沃德山2014年10月31日訪問。
莫頓·L（Morton，L.）（2012）《搗蛋：萬聖節的歷史》（倫敦：Reaktion Books）
奧爾巴尼大學萬聖節的起源。 2014年10月31日訪問。