Halloween: The Weird and the Wonderful

Halloween: A Brief History and Origin

Halloween, otherwise known as All Hallows Eve , originated as a Pagan festival in Celtic Britain, and did not arrive in North America until the 19th Century after the influx of millions of Irish refugees fleeing the potato famine. All Hallows Eve (shortened to Hallow'een) is so called because it falls on the eve before All Hallows Day. Halloween was formerly a religious festival, where the spirits of the dead were believed to visit the mortal world and bonfires were lit to ward off evil. However, by the 20thCentury, Halloween started to become commercial, and by the 1930's you could buy ready-made Halloween costumes and party decorations in retail stores.

Halloween and Guy Fawkes

I grew up in England, and when I was a child in the 1950's we did not really celebrate Halloween, but placed more importance on Guy Fawkes Night, sometimes called Bonfire Night. Halloween became more popular and commercial in Britain in the 1980's due to influence from America. On Guy Fawkes night, we set off fireworks, built big bonfires and burned scarecrow-like effigies of Guy Fawkes. Fawkes was among a number of Catholic conspirators who plotted to kill the Protestant King, James VI of Scotland, by blowing up the House of Lords during the opening of Parliament on the evening of 5th of November 1605. Typically, we made these effigies, called "Guys" and carried them around to the neighbors houses asking for "A Penny for the Guy" but I do not remember wearing any costumes. We would collect a reward of pennies and sometimes sweets (candies) if our Guy was really well made. Then we would place the Guy on top of the bonfire to burn, and sing:

"Remember, remember the 5th of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason, why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot"