what is halloween and why it is been celebrated?
116230
Halloween means "all hallows' eve." It is the day before All Saints' (hallows) Day. \nIt corresponds to the pagan Celtic Samhain, pronounced sow'en, which is their new year. A lot of Christian customs correspond to pagan ones, originally in order to make it easier for the pagans to accept Christianity. So, the celebration is comparable to the way the Celts celebrated their Samhain. \nUnder Source, I include an attractive and interesting link.
911659
Hanukkah is the annual Jewish festival celebrated on eight successive days beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar, corresponding, approximately, to December in the Gregorian calendar. It is also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, and Feast of the Maccabees, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem by Judas Maccabee in 165 BC after the Temple had been profaned by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria and overlord of Palestine.\n\nSee http://www.history.com/minisites/hanukkah/ for more
490435
I live for Horror Movies! Halloweens my favorite holiday!
923572
It's not fair but it's not wrong, during halloween anything goes..☺
838117
Thanksgiving is tradition, thankfulness, and family.\n\nReligious households see Thanksgiving Day as an expression of faith and thankfulness to God at the end of the harvest season. \n\nThanksgiving is a time to gather with your family and or friends and spend the day together.  \nPeople catch up on what's been happening in the lives of their children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and more.\n \nThanksgiving is a holiday for giving thanks, spending time with loved ones and indulging in delicious food that most people only eat once or twice a year.
828941
My husband & I were just having this conversation, as well as having one with my son's babysitter.\n\nPeople are trying to downplay it for the fear of offending 5% of the population.  Plus, there's a lot of places who advertise "safe trick-or-treating" like at churches, malls, etc.  Trunk-or-treating is becoming a very big thing at schools & churches, too.  I think after people go with their kids to these things (some even happen the weekend before Halloween), they don't worry about doing the actual Halloween things on Halloween.\n\nSad what some of it has come to, but we also wondered how long it would be before no one goes door-to-door trick-or-treating.  Now schools have "fall parties" instead of Halloween - kids can't even dress up for school anymore (reference the 5% comment above).\n\nI hate to see it change like that, but society is making it change.
302159
I still dress up for Halloween! \n(I don't go trick or treating, but I do take my children) Every year I have a different costume, from something simple to really elegant to scary - it's just a lot of fun & I plan to do it as long as I enjoy it! (( enjoy your tapes - I think you're cool! ))
828511
Halloween is , in concept, descended from the Celtic calendar's Samhain, which was the day that marked the turn of the season into the long dark of winter. Being an in-between time, it was also a portal for the dead to revisit the earth. The ancient tradition of the Mummer's Dance also goes back to this, as people put on masks and went from door to door "in place of the spirits". It is an entirely Pagan holy day, and also was the time that the Seelie Court turned over rule to their dark counterparts, the Unseelie.
27692
the mexican version of halloween...dia de los muertos...but their customs are extremely different...instead they celebrate their dead and invite them back for one night and leave all their favorites out for them or something like that...if you are in school, ask your spanish teacher...they may know...
529
Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is one of the most joyous times of the Jewish year. \n\nThe reason for the celebration is twofold (both dating back to c. 165 BCE): \n\nthe miraculous military victory of the small, ill-equipped Jewish army over the ruling Greek Syrians, who had banned the Jewish religion and desecrated the Temple; \n\nand the miracle of the small cruse of consecrated oil, which burned for eight days in the Temple's menorah instead of just one. \n\n\nHanukkah is celebrated by: \n\na. lighting a menorah for eight nights with olive oil or wax candles; one on the first night and an additional one each succeeding night \n\nb. eating food fried in oil, especially potato pancakes (latkes) and jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot) \n\nc. playing with a dreidel, a four-sided top; the player wins or loses money depending on which side it lands on (each is marked with a different Hebrew letter)\n\nIn 1997, a 60-foot, 18-ton menorah was built in Latrun, Israel; a rabbi was lifted by crane each night to kindle the lights. The same year, a 12-foot pyramid of 2,400 jelly doughnuts was built near Afula, Israel; the pastries were later distributed to soldiers serving near the northern border. \n\nHanukkah began this year (2005) on the evening of December 25.\n\nSee poster:\nhttp://www.allposters.com/-sp/Menorah-w-toys-candy-and-gifts-in-background-Posters_i1459268_.htm
957133
That's not a question. If this is about it being pagan then stop worrying since Halloween is just as much inspired by All Saints Day Eve, a Christian holiday, as it is by Samhein. No that's not coincedence it's the same story as Yule and Christmas, Christianity's attempt to overshadow other religion's holidays. I celebrate both since it's basically multiple religions that try to out do each other until only secularity overcomes both.
702643
HALLOWEEN.\n\nIt is the best holiday.  It has always been my favorite holiday.  Even as a kid, Christmas couldn't touch it.\n\nIt's just dark and spooky and the leaves have changed, plus you get to wear costumes and drink hot cider.  I really just love Halloween.
831612
I don't agree with any of it, it is another pointless day that is exploited by companies to get more money off parents. Halloween is not for kids anymore cause the kids in my local town are too scared to go out cause of thugs who go out and ruin everyones life and get away with it. I was up until after 1.00am (I had work at 6.00am this morning) last night listening to bangers going off, not nice enjoyable to watch -  fireworks but loud noisy bangers. It is not fair on anybody especially not animals mine were cowering in corners all evening, and in my local town the bus drivers had to stop work at 6.00pm in the evening cause thugs were firing fireworks, eggs and more worryingly rocks at the windows. I am so glad that it is gone for another year, however if i had my way i would ban it.
652619
The original Halloween
1148473
They turn into bats and come out at Halloween. ;-]
644535
Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on the modern day Gregorian calendar. The date marked the beginning of winter. Since they were pastoral people, it was a time when cattle and sheep had to be moved to closer pastures and all livestock had to be secured for the winter months. Crops were harvested and stored. The date marked both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle.\n\nThe festival observed at this time was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween or Sow-in). It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons—all part of the dark and dread.\n\nSamhain became the Halloween of modern times when Christian missionaries attempted to change the religious practices of the Celtic people. In the early centuries of the first millennium A.D., before missionaries such as St. Patrick and St. Columcille converted them to Christianity, the Celts practiced an elaborate religion through their priestly caste, the Druids, who were priests, poets, scientists and scholars all at once. As religious leaders, ritual specialists, and bearers of learning, the Druids were not unlike the very missionaries and monks who were to Christianize their people and brand them as devil worshippers.
1032593
Good questions!\n\nBut do you know how many Christian holidays are based on Pagan holidays?   It was a transition to get people away from Paganism to Christianity.\n\nI've celebrated Halloween all my life.  Some "Christians" are now transitioning it to "Fall Festival" but it's the same thing/same night/same concept:  Dressing up in costumes and asking for Candy.\n\nIf my child threw all our eggs out into the yard on any day except Easter, I'd be mad...but it's a tradition.  If I was pinched any day except for St. Patrick's day, I'd be mad.  \n\nI have no problem with Halloween.  I know what's in my heart.