Saturday, 22 October 2011

Comic Book: Halloween: Death Gives Life to a Hol

Death Gives Life to a Holiday 


part 1

Hi! I'm marnie. well, it's october again and fall is upon us... That means we will be celebrating halloween soon...Have you ever wondered why we celebrate this holiday? Bats! Owls! Pumpkins! Skulls! why are these things associated with this holiday, anyway? halloween has such an interesting story...you're never going to believe what i found out... let's take a trip back into ancient history and find out how death has given life to a holiday... in fact, let's go back 3000 years to the magical landscapes of ireland where the celtic tribes flourished on rugged hills near the sea coast, the celts established an agricultural community, which meant they were at the mercy of the elements for their harvest as the days grew dark and cold, winter reminded the celts that their own mortality was fragile the scarcity of food resulted in many deaths each winter... so, they would ask their priests, called druids, to pray for them. especially on the last night of the harvest, which was considered a sacred eve this night was called samhain, pronounced "sow-in", which is gaelic for "summer's end". celts believed the spirits of those who died would walk the earth on this night they painted scary faces on themselves and gourds to frighten away returning spirits the celts tried to appease these spirits by leaving food & sweets at the edge of their villages in attempts to keep the dead in their graves they built bonfires to honor and thank the gods. samhain night saw many blood sacrifices, as cows and horses were thrown upon the fire to offer back life essence to the earth bats and owls - familiar halloween creatures - have their origins in ancient samhain ways. bonfires on samhain attracted mosquitos, which attracted bats and owls and you could see them flying over the bonfires when the fires smoldered out, the druids would "read" the burnt remains of the sacrificed animals like tea leaves. those prophesies would spread throughout the villages, becoming stories told long into the night now...interestingly, 1200 miles across europe , the romans weren't celebrating death, but life at this time of year  for centuries these 2 cultures celebrated separate rituals at the same time of the year. but in 50 b.c., the romans conquered most of northern europe spreading pomona to the land of samhain the traditions began to merge and both cultures honored the dead and the harvest together just as the merge began to take form, christianity was taking root across europe ...they were bitterly opposed to "paganism" the term "pagan" is latin for "villager" and simply referred to people who practiced earth worship and offerings & were not affiliated with organized religion in 325 a.d. roman emporer, constantine, who had converted to christianity, inspired missionaries to save pagan souls. this proved difficult due to the deeply rooted cultural traditions & the celebration of death & harvest continued to try & gain more followers & accomodate the pagan villagers, the catholic church ordained november 1st as holy & called it "all saints day", which is also called "all hallow's day" the eve of all hallows day became known as "all hallow's eve" & eventually evolved into our contemporary term "halloween" 

 part 2

the church also named november 2nd as "all souls day", for all those who died that were not saints - this was a direct referral to samhain and was intended to inspire conversion mexico's day of the dead festival is a perfect example of a centuries old celebration that combines pagan and christian elements, it also exemplifies how halloween has adapted over time to fit local beliefs the celebration takes place on nov 1st & 2nd - families hold picnics and tell stories at the graveside of loved ones. images of skeletons are abundant & traditions of ancient indian and spanish culture are evident in the 1400's, the catholic church outlawed all pagan religions and those found guilty of practicing them were hanged or burnt at the stake the church was particularly concerned with witches. the word "witch" comes from the word "wicca", which means "wise one", and usually refers to a female witches were portrayed as evil hags by the church. these women were spared no mercy if they were convicted...for example, joan of arc was accused of witchcraft & burnt at the stake in 1431 for "having visions of god". she was only 19 years old the idea of witches as evil was so overblown that even animals associated with witches took on a demonic reputation. black cats were thought to be witches' spirits in animal form a major shift in the hallow's eve celebration came in 1517 when christian revolutionary, martin luther, launched protestant reformation against the catholic church protestants rejected the pope and saints, which did away with all saints day and set the tone for the puritans that were beginning to settle the new england colonies the new england settlers were bitterly opposed to halloween - too pagan, too catholic! this opposition is a driving force for relocating to a new, more holy land. puritan obsession with the occult came to a fevered pitch in the late 1600's. again, witches were targeted and the salem witch trials took place in 1692 - 20 people were killed...19 hanged and 1 crushed with rocks! not all colonies were so hostile, though. virginia was being settled with a large catholic population and the halloween holiday thrived...in fact, it's considered the birthplace of american halloween by the 1800's, big halloween events called "play Parties" became popular in this area of the country. party goers enjoyed nuts & fruit, bobbed for apples, carved pumpkins, played divination games and indulged in ghost stories halloween would get its biggest boost in the late 19th century when an enormous wave of irish immigrants began coming to america these irish folks brought with them the traditional samhain customs of story telling and carousing neighborhoods in costume the industrial revolution also supported the cultural celebration of halloween, as irish countrysiders with rustic values flocked to the cities for factory work and spread their customs even wider by the early 1900's, with many men absent from home due to war, children began to play a major role in the celebration of halloween during the 1920's, minnesota, new york, los angeles and illinois all established citywide halloween celebrations , which included public parades halloween has been gaining in popularity ever since...did you know that americans now spend over $4 billion dollars on halloween candy, costumes and decorations every year! halloween has come a long way, baby! from celebrations of death, to celebrations of life and harvest...from beloved holiday of ancient ancestors - to evil, outlawed ritual and then back again, halloween has had quite a history now that you know the story of halloween, it's time to have some fun! you've been learning to remix these pixton comics, right? well... it is time to remix this comic story by creating a character for yourself, adding yourself to the story and answering the following questions... considering what you have read and in your own words, what do you think is the origin of halloween ghost stories? where do you think our modern practice of pumpkin carving originated? why are cats, bats and owls associated with halloween? identify one example of how the history of halloween relates to your current practices or observations of other's holiday celebration tell me how knowing the story of halloween will affect your practices or observations of the holiday going forward 









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