Halloween  Happy Halloween Wishes
From 101lifeStyle.com
Halloween Celebrations Around The World:
Halloween is celebrated in some countries of the world. In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is traditionally celebrated with children dressing up in traditional costumes and going 'guising", and activities such as bonfires and parties. After the immigrants to North America popularised Halloween in the 19th century, the festival has grown significantly in popularity and have today largely extended to other countries such as South America, Australia, New Zealand, Connental Europe, Japan and some parts of Eastern Asia. Europe:
Ireland: Having originated from the Samhain celebrations, Halloween is a widely celebrated event in Ireland as is known as "Oíche Shamhna" literally meaning "Eve of Samhain". Samhain, in Irish is the month of November and the harvest festival of Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the onset of the "darker half" of the year. This festival is linked to the dead revisiting the mortal world and large bonfires. In Irish homes. children as well as adults dress up in costumes resembling the Underworld (ghosts, witches, zombies, skeletons, goblins) and make bonfires and enjoy fireworks. Houses are decorated with pumpkins, or traditional turnips carved into scary faces. The traditional food is the Halloween cake of Ireland called Barmbrack, which is a fruit bread. There are many activities and traditional games and beliefs associated with the Traditional Halloween Brack. Games and activities such as bobbing for apples, games of divination are common. Halloween Day lunch is called Colcannon in Ireland and is a special affair.
The United Kingdom:
Scotland: Scotland also shares the culture of Ireland, and the medieval event of Samhain also has its roots in Scotland where in Scottish Gaelic, it is known as "Oidhche Shamhna". The name Halloween was first attested in the 16th century from All-Hallows-Even, that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Scottish traditional customs include divination practices, ways of predicting the future, and methods of searching for future spouses. Children go from door to door carrying candle-lit lanterns carved from turnips with devilish faces to frighten evil spirits and Fairies. The children also practice "guising". A traditional Halloween game is called apple "dooking" or "dunking", which involves the retrieval of an apple with one's mouth from a bucket full of water.
 England: The tradition of giving soul cakes orginated in Great Britain and Ireland and was called "souling", and continued till the 1930s. These "soul cakes" where eaten by everyone in the household. The people stayed up late at night and with solemn silence and lit candles and wines placed on tables to refresh them, welcomed the souls to visit their earthly homes. Making toffee apples and apple tarts and also Bobbing for apples are traditions associated with Halloween.
The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Germany, and Austria: Halloween customs spread since the 1990s in continental Europe, starting in France and has become increasingly popular in Belgium, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, and Austria since the early 1990s. Cemeteries are cleaned and wreaths and lanterns are placed at family grave sites.
Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria: In Switzerland, Halloween, after first becoming popular in 1999. Halloween in Romania is celebrated around the myth of "Dracula" on October 31. In Transylvania, Costume parties, and Dracula enactments are very common. In Bulgaria it is a tradition that the kids in Kardjali town gledka go trick-or-treating every year on October 31 at midnight. Their Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, carving jack-o'-lanterns, bonfires, apple bobbing, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
 Italy: In Italy Halloween customs include setting a table loaded with bounties and leaving the house open and going to church to pray for the dead souls. They believe that the dead will return and consume the food laid out for them. Traditional fare includes "Fave dei morti" which is a bread or cookie, made with almonds, pine nuts, sugar, eggs and flour shaped into large beans, to commemorate the dead. ********************************************* Halloween Celebrations In North America |
