Ealra Hālgena Ǣfen
[[Biliþ:Halloween-witch.svg|thumbnail|280px]]
'''Ealra Hālgena Ǣfen''' ([[Nīwe Englisc sprǣc|Nīƿe Englisc]]: ''Hallowe'en'') is [[hāliȝdæȝ]] þæt man cūþ æt niht [[31 Ƿinterfylleþ]]. In þisse nihte, ċildru ƿeriaþ synderliċe clāðas and faraþ fram dura tō dura tō samnienne sƿētu. Man hit cūþ in mǣstum þǣre [[ƿestern ƿoruld|ƿesternan ƿorulde]], ac oftost in þǣm [[Geānlǣht Underrīcu American|Ȝeānlǣhtum Underrīċum American]], for þǣm þe [[Īrland|Īras]], [[Scotland|Scottas]] and ōðer folc habbaþ ealdre cynnan þisses dæȝes þider ȝebrōht in þǣm [[19e ȝēarhundred|19um ȝēarhundrede]].

Se Nīƿa Englisca nama ''Halloween'' cymþ of þǣm ealdum ȝesceape ''Hallowe'en'', and þǣm ealdum ȝesceape "All Hallow's Eve", for þǣm þe hit is ǣfen ǣr þǣm crīstenan hāliȝdæȝe, þe man hātte [[Ealra Hālgena Dæȝ]]. Se hāliȝdæȝ ƿæs ȝildliċ dæȝ for þǣre [[hǣðen]]re ǣ in norðum Europan, oþ þæt crīstenfolc habbaþ hit āgnetted (mid [[Crīstesmæsse|Crīstesmæssan]] and [[Ēaster|Ēastre]], tƿǣm oðrum norðum Europāiscum hǣðnum hāliȝdagum) and hit habbaþ crīstene dōm ȝiefen. ''Ealra Hālgena Ǣfen'' is ēac ȝehāten sƿā se [[Dæȝ þǣra Dēadra]], and hē is symbeldæȝ for [[Ƿicca]]n and oðrum todæȝes hǣðenum ǣm. Hƿæþre þes haliȝdæȝ næfþ ǣfestlīċe inȝehyȝd for þǣm mǣstum folce.
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Syndriȝlīċe in Englalande, symblodon þā hǣðnan [[Celt]]as þone Dæȝ þǣra Dēadra on Halloween. The spirits supposedly rose from the dead and, in order to attract them, food was left on the doors. To scare off the evil spirits, the Celts wore masks. When the [[Roman]]s invaded the [[British Isles]], they embellished the tradition with their own, which is the celebration of the harvest and honoring the dead. The English traditions were then passed on to the [[United States]].

Halloween is sometimes associated with the [[occult]]. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the "liminal" times of the year when the spirit world can make contact with the natural world and when [[magic]] is most potent (''see, for example, [[Catalan mythology about witches]]'').

==Tācnu==
Halloween's theme is spooky or scary things particularly involving dēaþ, the [[undead]], [[Magic_(paranormal)|black magic]], or mythical [[monster]]s. Commonly-associated Halloween "characters" include [[ghost]]s, [[witch]]es, [[bat]]s, [[black cat]]s, [[goblin]]s, [[banshee]]s, [[zombie]]s and [[demon]]s, as well as certain literary figures such as [[Dracula]] and [[Frankenstein]]'s monster. Homes are often decorated with these symbols around Halloween.

[[Black]] and [[orange (colour)|orange]] are the traditional colors of Halloween. There are also elements of the [[autumn]] season, such as [[pumpkin]]s and [[scarecrow]]s, reflected in symbols of Halloween.

The [[jack-o'-lantern]], a carved pumpkin lit by a candle inside, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols. In the British Isles, a turnip was and sometimes still is used, but emigrants to America quickly adopted the pumpkin since it is much easier to carve. Many families that celebrate Halloween will carve a pumpkin into a scary or comical face and place it on the home's doorstep on Halloween night for fun. Traditionally, something like this was done in order to scare evil spirits away.

==Trick-or-treating ==
[[Image:Mask_dino_reading.jpg|right|250px|Teen reading a book, while wearing a dinosaur mask.]]
The main event of Halloween is [[trick-or-treat|trick-or-treating]], also known as ''guising'', in which children dress up in [[Halloween costume|costume]] disguises and go door-to-door in their neighborhood, ringing the bell and yelling "trick or treat!" (or, less frequently, "Halloween apples!")  The occupant of the house (who might themself dress in a scary costume) will then hand out some small candies, miniature [[chocolate bar]]s or other treats. Homes sometimes use [[sound effects]] and fog machines to help set a spooky mood. Children can often accumulate many treats on Halloween night, filling up entire pillow cases or shopping bags.

Tricks play less of a role in modern Halloween, though the night before Halloween is often marked by pranks such as soaping windows, egging houses or stringing toilet paper through trees.

Typical Halloween costumes have traditionally been monsters such as [[vampire]]s, ghosts, witches, and [[devil]]s. The stereotypical Halloween costume is a sheet with eyeholes cut in it as a ghost costume. In nineteenth-century Scotland and Ireland the reason for wearing such fearsome (and non-fearsome) costumes was the belief that since the spirits that were abroad that night were essentially intent on doing harm, the best way to avoid this was to fool the spirits into believing that you were one of them. In recent years, it has become common for costumes to be based on themes other than traditional horror, such as dressing up as a character from a [[TV show]] or [[movie]]. In [[2001]], after the [[September 11 attacks]], for example, costumes of [[firefighter]]s, [[police officer]]s, and United States [[military]] personnel became popular among children. In 2004, an estimated 2.15 million children in the United States are expected to dress up as [[Spider-Man]], the year's most popular costume. [http://www.nrf.com/content/default.asp?folder=press/release2004&file=costumes1004.htm&bhcp=1]

A program started by [[UNICEF]] involves the distribution of small boxes by schools to trick-or-treaters, in which they can collect small change from the houses they visit for donation to the charity. 

[[BIGresearch]] conducted a survey for the [[National Retail Federation]] in the US and found that 54.1 percent of consumers plan to buy a costume for Halloween 2004. Those purchasing costumes will spend an average of $28.11. An estimated $3.12 billion will be spent on the holiday.

A child usually "grows out of" trick-or-treating by his or her teenage years. Teenagers and adults instead often celebrate Halloween with costume parties or other social get-togethers.

==Gamen==
There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween parties. The most common is [[bobbing for apples]], in which [[apple (fruit)|apple]]s float in a tub or a large [[basin]] of [[water]]; the participants must use their [[tooth|teeth]] to remove an apple from the basin. Another common game involves hanging up [[treacle]] or [[syrup]]-coated [[scone]]s by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity which inevitably leads to a very sticky face.

Sumu gamen traditionally played at Halloween are forms of [[divination]]. In [[Pūicīnī]] (pronounced "pook-eeny"), a game played in Ireland, a blindfolded person is seated in front of a table on which are placed several saucers. The saucers are shuffled and the seated person then chooses one by touch. The contents of the saucer determine the person's life for the following year. A saucer containing earth means someone known to the player will die during the next year, a saucer containing water foretells travel, a coin means new wealth, a bean means poverty, etc. In nineteenth-century Ireland, young women placed slugs in saucers sprinkled with flour. The wriggling of the slugs and the patterns subsequently left behind on the saucers were believed to portray the faces of the women's future spouses.

In North America, unmarried women were frequently told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before they married, a [[symbols of death|skull]] would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on [[greeting card]]s from the late nineteenth century.

==Fōdan==
[[Image:candy_apples.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Candy apples]]
Candy apples are a common treat at Halloween. They are made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, and sometimes then rolling them in nuts.

A Halloween custom which has survived unchanged to this day in Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays the purchase) of a [[barmbrack]] (Irish "bāirīn breac"). This is a light [[fruit cake]] into which a plain ring is placed before baking. It is said that whoever finds this ring will find his or her true love during the following year.

Other foods associated with the holiday:
* [[candy corn]]
* hot apple [[cider]]
* roasted [[pumpkin]] seeds

==Cultural history==
===Celtic observation of Samhain===
In the [[Druidry|Druidic]] religion of the ancient Celts, the new year began with the winter season of [[Samhain]] on [[November 1]]. Just as shorter days signified the start of the new year, sundown also meant the start of a new day; therefore the harvest festival began every year on the night of October 31. Druids in the British Isles would light fires and offer sacrifices of crops, animals and sometimes humans, and as they danced around the fires, the season of the sun would pass and the season of darkness would begin.

When the morning of [[November 1]] arrived, the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family who would then take it home to start a new cooking fire. These fires were intended to keep the homes warm and free from evil [[spiritual being|spirit]]s such as "[[Sidhe]]" (pronounced "shee", the female members of whom were called ''beān sidhe'' or [[banshee]]s), since at this time of year it was believed that the invisible "gates" between this world and the spirit world were opened and free movement between both worlds was possible.

[[Bonfire]]s played a large part in the festivities. Villagers cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle upon the flames; the word "bonfire" is thought to derive from these "[[bone fires]]." With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit their hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. Hundreds of fires are still lit each year in Ireland on Halloween night.

[[Neopaganism|Neopagans]] still celebrate the [[sabbat (neopaganism)|sabbat]] of Samhain on Halloween, as well as also taking part in secular Halloween activities.

===Norse Autumn Blōt===
In the old [[Norse mythology|Norse religion]], and its modern revival, [[Āsatrū]], the day now known as Halloween was a [[blōt]], which involved sacrifices to the gods and the blessing of food.

===Halloween customs===
Observance of Halloween faded in the South of England from the [[17th century]] onwards, being replaced by the commemoration of the [[Gunpowder Plot]] on [[November 5]]. However it remained popular in Scotland, Ireland and the North of England. It is only in the last decade that it has become popular in the South of England again, although in an entirely Americanized version. 

The custom survives most accurately in Ireland, where the last Monday of October is a public holiday. All schools close for the following week for mid-term, commonly called the Halloween Break. As a result Ireland is the only country where children never have school on Halloween and are therefore free to celebrate it in the ancient and time-honored fashion. 

The custom of [[trick-or-treat|trick-or-treating]] is thought to have evolved from the European custom called souling, similar to the [[wassailing]] customs associated with [[Yuletide]]. On [[November 2]], All Souls Day, Beggars would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes" - square pieces of bread with currants. Christians would promise to say prayers on behalf of dead relatives helping the soul's passage to heaven. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits at the Samhain. See [[Puck (mythology)]].

In Celtic parts of western [[Brittany]]. Samhain is still heralded by the baking of ''[[kornigou]]''. Kornigou are cakes baked in the shape of antlers to commemorate the god of winter shedding his "cuckold" horns as he returns to his kingdom in the [[Otherworld]].

==="Punkie Night"===
"Punkie Night" is observed on the last [[Thursday]] in [[October]] in the village of Hinton St. George in the [[county]] of [[Somerset]] in [[England]]. On this night, children carry lanterns made from hollowed-out [[Mangold wurzel|mangel-wurzels]] (a kind of [[beet]]; in modern days, pumpkins are used) with faces carved into them. They bring these around the village, collecting money and singing the punkie song. ''Punkie'' is derived from [[pumpkin]] or [[punk]], meaning [[tinder]].

Though the custom is only attested over the last century, and the mangel-wurzel itself was introduced into English agriculture in the late 18th century, "Punkie Night" appears to be much older even than the fable that now accounts for it: in this, the wives of Hinton St. George went looking for their wayward husbands at the fair held nearby at Chiselborough, the last Thursday in October, but first hollowed out mangel wurzels in order to make lanterns to light their way. The drunken husbands saw the eerie lights, thought they were "goolies" (the restless spirits of children who had died before they were baptized), and fled in terror. Children carry the punkies now. The event has spread since about 1960 to the neighboring village of Chiselborough.

''Sources:'' on-line report from the ''Western Gazette'' and a ''National Geographic'' radio segment. Chiselborough Fair is memorialized by Fair Place in the village. ''The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland'' (1868) reported that there was "a fair for horses and cattle on the last Thursday in October."

== Negative aspects ==
=== "Mischief night" ===
The night before Halloween, known in some areas as "Mischief night" or "[[Devil's Night]]", is often associated with negative actions being performed by [[adolescent]]s. Some of the acts range from minor [[vandalism]] to [[theft]], or even [[violence]].  Many youths involved in mischief night would be considered too old for traditional [[trick-or-treating]].

A dialect [http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/staticmaps/q_110.html survey] begun in 1999 by [[Harvard University]] indicates that there are a number of terms for this particular day of the year, but that the vast majority (70.38%) have no special word for it.

==Religious viewpoints==
The majority of Christians ascribe no doctrinal significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular entity devoted to celebrating imaginary spooks and handing out candy. The secular celebration of Halloween may loom larger in contemporary imagination than does All Saints Day.

The mingling of Christian and "pagan" traditions in the early centuries following the founding of the Christian Church have left many modern Christians uncertain of their responsibility towards this holiday. Some [[fundamentalist Christianity|fundamentalist Christian]] groups consider Halloween a Pagan holiday and may refer to it as "The most evil day of the year", refusing to allow their children to participate. Among these groups it is believed to have developed [[Satan|Satanic]] influences, as have many other Pagan practices. 

In some areas, complaints from these fundamentalist Christians that the schools were endorsing a Pagan religion have led the schools to stop distributing UNICEF boxes.

Other Christians, however, continue to connect this holiday with All Saints Day. Some modern Christian churches commonly offer a "fall festival" or harvest-themed alternative to Halloween celebrations. Still other Christians hold the view that the holiday is "safe"; that is, that it is not Satanic in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children.

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== Ūtanƿearde bendas ==
{{commonscat|Halloween}}
* [http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/halloween.html Ƿyrtrumas Ealrum Hālgenum Ǣfenum]
* [http://french.about.com/library/bl-halloweeninfrance.htm Ealra Hālgena Ǣfen in Franclande]
* [[theopedia:Halloween|Crīstene ƿēnas Ealrum Hālgenum Ǣfenum]]

[[Flocc:Hāliȝdagas]]
Ealra Hālgena Ǣfen (Nīƿe Englisc: Hallowe'en) is hāliȝdæȝ þæt man cūþ æt niht 31 Ƿinterfylleþ. In þisse nihte, ċildru ƿeriaþ synderliċe clāðas and faraþ fram dura tō dura tō samnienne sƿētu. Man hit cūþ in mǣstum þǣre ƿesternan ƿorulde, ac oftost in þǣm Ȝeānlǣhtum Underrīċum American, for þǣm þe Īras, Scottas and ōðer folc habbaþ ealdre cynnan þisses dæȝes þider ȝebrōht in þǣm 19um ȝēarhundrede.

Se Nīƿa Englisca nama Halloween cymþ of þǣm ealdum ȝesceape Hallowe'en, and þǣm ealdum ȝesceape "All Hallow's Eve", for þǣm þe hit is ǣfen ǣr þǣm crīstenan hāliȝdæȝe, þe man hātte Ealra Hālgena Dæȝ. Se hāliȝdæȝ ƿæs ȝildliċ dæȝ for þǣre hǣðenre ǣ in norðum Europan, oþ þæt crīstenfolc habbaþ hit āgnetted (mid Crīstesmæssan and Ēastre, tƿǣm oðrum norðum Europāiscum hǣðnum hāliȝdagum) and hit habbaþ crīstene dōm ȝiefen. Ealra Hālgena Ǣfen is ēac ȝehāten sƿā se Dæȝ þǣra Dēadra, and hē is symbeldæȝ for Ƿiccan and oðrum todæȝes hǣðenum ǣm. Hƿæþre þes haliȝdæȝ næfþ ǣfestlīċe inȝehyȝd for þǣm mǣstum folce.

 Ūtanƿearde bendas 

 Ƿyrtrumas Ealrum Hālgenum Ǣfenum
 Ealra Hālgena Ǣfen in Franclande
 Crīstene ƿēnas Ealrum Hālgenum Ǣfenum

Flocc:Hāliȝdagas