Happy Halloween! Today is the day nations celebrate with festivals and old traditions. Many different ideas are conjured on this day but most are related to the last harvest of crops and the mystical spirits of the dead. The U.S. adopted this holiday in the 19th century, when nearly two million Irish immigrants came to the U.S. along with Scottish immigrants. Ancient origins are from the Celtic festival known as Samhain, also regarded as "The Celtic New Year" in Ireland. The boundary of the living and the dead is broken on this day, in which the dead cause trouble to the living in the form of sickness and damaging crops. The living slaughter their stock to prepare for winter storage and incinerate the bones. Masks are also worn during these festivals to appease to those evil spirits.
There are many things that have symbolic meanings behind them in which people overlook all the time. Through a little research I have found out some interesting things. For instance, the jack-o-lantern has a myth behind it. The myth is of a man who is sought out by the devil. Stingy Jack or Jack the Smith, as he is called, is an amoral farmer who drinks endlessly and sins. Jack asked for one last drink before his soul was banished to hell. Afterwards he made the devil pick up the tip, in doing so the devil morphed into a silver coin to pay for the beverages. Instead, Jack put the coin in his pocket and demanded ten more years to be free from the devils grasp. With no way out, he coincided to Jack’s wish. Day by day, Jack led the same life as always. With nothing of so much as a hint of change in his ways. Ten years consumed and alas they meet again. Jack asks for one more wish to be granted, an unexpected, simple request for an apple. Incautiously, the devil climbs a tree to fetch an apple, and Jack, with great celerity, places crucifixes around the tree. With the devil at bay, he petitioned never to be taken to the underworld. Later on, Jack died with little regard to his unethical ways and found himself mercifully at the gates of heaven. He was denied because of all his ill-considered sins and faulty actions. Now trying to enter hell and the shadowy underworld where the devil resides, he was also denied because of the deal he made some time ago. With pity, the devil gave Jack an ember to light his way inside of a hallowed out turnip. That is the tale of Stingy Jack who roams the world between heaven and hell.
Happy Halloween! And remember, this is the one and only day you are allowed to take candy from strangers.