Celebrating All Hallow’s Eve Is An Ancient Tradition
All Hallow’s Eve is right around the corner and I am getting excited ! This is one of my favorite times of the year. One of my friends on Facebook asked me to explain how this tradition got started.
It is sort of weird how Halloween became a Holiday on its own. The original celebration was the Catholic All Saints Day which is a Holy Day. All Hallow’s Eve is their way of recognizing the night before a special day to celebrate the special Saints who have attained Heaven. Hallow’s is another way of saying Eve of all Hallow’s. So we have All Hallow’s Eve.
America has such a mishmash of traditions and we sort of picked up some of this and that. For some people, we still observe this day as a special time to set aside for our loved ones who have died. In the primitive days, it was set more toward those who died this last year. For us now, it is special loved ones, no matter when they passed.
The theory is that there is a crack between the worlds and spirits can mix and mingle among us at this time for a little reunion.
In the ancient times, people were superstitious about having all those souls floating around and took some steps to protect their home, family, and self.
Primitive People Used Elemental Energy To Thwart Spirits
They used the elements to fool any souls floating around. They would light bonfires in the town center to scare off the evil spirits of the community. Families would light a fire in their fireplace and place candles in the windows. The fire was to place a buffer between them and the dead souls. They thought it might scare them away.
They burned incense and herbs to clear out any old negative energy from past arguments or resentments.
Objects were set up to “fool” the dead souls. Like altars with images to represent the old souls. Flowers, milk and other things were set around the “effigy” so the spirits would feel like they were well remembered and loved. This was to placate them in case they might harbor some bad energy of any sort.
Time To Put On A Disguise
Some of them would also dress up like “Haints” so that they real spirits wouldn’t pay them any mind.
Their idea was too just blend in on this “scary” night. This how we started the tradition of dressing up for Halloween.
So they spirit world wouldn’t recognize us from who we really are.
Back then, the year ended in late fall. So this was a time of wrapping things up and planning for the winter season.
They would consult the local wise woman and have her read their tea leaves to interpret what would happen in the next year and if they would live through the winter.
Survival was prime on their mind! Another popular subject was about romance. Not much has changed over the years in this department 🙂
I hope you enjoy the season too. It is a time to harvest what we have put together this year. If you would like to have a special Tarot & Tea with me, be sure to get on my books early 🙂
Bright Blessings
MarVeena Meek
(c) Sept 2016