Halloween

Dass Halloween aus Irland kommt, weiß ich erst seit einem Jahr.

Die Gesichter wurde ursprünglich aus Rüben geschnitzt.

Jack-O-Lanterns, ‘Seán na Gealaí’

The pumpkin was named after Stingy Jack, a figure from a Dublin urban legend in the eighteenth century.

Stingy Jack was a drunkard long ago. It was said that Jack was a beastly man, even beastlier than the devil himself – a rumour that greatly annoyed the devil. Outraged and envious, the devil came to Jack one night to collect his soul and take him to hell. Jack was cunning however, and he managed to trick the devil.

As a last request, Jack asked the devil to pick an apple from a tree for him. The devil, seeing no problem with this, climbed up the tree to pick an apple for Jack. As soon as the devil was up in the tree however, Jack quickly placed a ring of crucifixes around it, trapping the devil.

Furious, the devil demanded to be set free immediately. Jack cockily countered that he would only let him go provided that his soul would never go to hell. The devil acceded to his condition and Jack set him free.

When Stingy Jack eventually died years later, he wasn’t admitted into heaven due to all the sins he had committed during his life. When he reached the gates of hell, the devil wouldn’t accept his soul either, staying true to the promise he had made. However, he took pity on poor Jack and tossed him a coal from hell to make a lantern for himself.

Ergo, Jack’s soul was condemned to purgatory, to live out his immortality alone in the plane between heaven and hell, with nothing but a hollowed-out turnip lit with the coal the devil had given him to light his way. And so from that point on Stingy Jack was given the nickname Jack O’ Lantern, or ‘Seán na Gealaí’.

https://www.gaelchultur.com/en/blog/the-origin-of-the-jack-o-lantern

All Hallows‘ Eve

Allerheiligen (All Hallows‘ Eve) gibt es seit 609 und geht auf Papst Bonifatius IV zurück, der Samhein und Allerheiligen zusammenlegte, damit es mit den vorchristlichen Traditionen zusammenpasst (so wie bei Weihnachten und Ostern).

Halloween ist keine amerikanische Erfindung, sondern ein traditionsreicher Tag, der einen wichtigen Punkt des Jahres markiert, hierzu gehören Ernte und der Beginn der dunkleren Jahrehälfte.

Man verkleidet sich als Geist, damit die echten Geister, die an dem Tag rumlaufen, einen nicht erkennen.