Holidays
were established based on mysterious beliefs throughout history. In order to
schedule various holiday activities, a calendar had to be created. The first calendar
was developed 10,000 years ago in Scotland, first to be used as an agricultural
tool when many of the people transitioned from being hunters and gatherers to
farmers. The discovery of the calendar was made possible by the discovery of
the equal parts of days and nights four times a year which was determined by
the equinox. They needed to know when to plant and harvest. If our ancestors
did everything right according to the calendar and they did not have a
successful crop yield, they thought the gods must be angry. Weather, the
shorter and longer days and phases of the moon led to many of the holiday beliefs.
Legends fostered many holiday practices. We still want to abide by some of the
beliefs to stay in good graces with our divine forces. We went from celebrating
holidays, religious and not religious, to celebrating birthdays, death
anniversaries, historic events such as 911 and the day JFK was shot. A little
cave in Ireland was where the first inkling of a Halloween holiday was born.
In town called Rosecommon in
Ireland there was a cave referred to as the Rafcrocan cave. A rabbit hole
served as the first small veil in which spirits could get through the veil. The
holiday was referred to as Samhain. The veil was referred to as the Borwigan
and it was very thin. Food offerings were provided for the dead. If they were a
begger or spirit, still had to feed them. The Celtic cut up turnips as a symbol
of this holiday and in the U.S. pumpkins were used because they were more
plentiful. The spirits could not go to heaven or hell so the lighting of a
jack-o-lantern would help the spirits to cross over. The veil is the thinnest
on the evening of October 31st and the day of November 1st.
All souls night is November 1st. Things were getting destroyed so trick or treat
was developed to prevent the destruction. Our ancestors thought it was better
to teach children by using things they feared.
On a cheerier note, a holiday
referred to as “Saturnalia” was created in Rome which was held from December
21-2. All people were considered equal no matter what economic class or
position they held. The holiday was celebrated by holding feasts, gift giving
and orgies. All the people in Rome were permitted to attend.
“Dia de Los Muertos” was a Mexican day
of the dead. All dead citizens would be honored on this day. Today, it is
believed there are more spirits than there were in the past and this is because
we are finally looking for them more. This holiday Christianized and changed to
honor all former souls. The honoring of the dead made it collectively sacred.
The fertility goddess “Eustre” was
associated with the creation of the first Easter. Christianity introduced
Jesus’ resurrection. The belief in the fertility goddess was where our
ancestors bought into the belief of associating Easter eggs and candy with the
Easter holiday.
Yuletide celebrations were created
for various reasons. The Norse people used candles to keep the darkness away
and evergreen leaves were placed over doors to keep bad spirits away. In
Scandanavia, everyone was supposed to drank from the same cup. The evergreen
was known for its strength to survive harsh winter weather so it was believed
to portray special gifts. The upper, middle and lower worlds or realms were
honored by specific rituals. When a Yule log was burned the one from last year
had to be used to ignite the current year’s log. Different trees were burned
such as the pine willow and holly and stood for different beliefs. The nativity
was created to honor when Jesus was born. The actual date of Jesus’ birth
appeared to be not important. Constantine used Christianity to unify Roman
empire in 336 A.D. Soltice was on the 23rd, Christmas Eve was the 24th,
and Christmas on the 25th, this gave the Romans more days to party.
Saint Nicolas was a bishop in Myra,
Turkey in 278 A.D.. He came from a wealthy family. Nicolas gave all his wealth
away. He decided to help out people with special needs. He decided to celebrate
Christmas by giving and sharing. He was honored as a patron saint. The Dutch
created Cinder Claus and the U.S. called him Santa Claus. In Germany during the
earlier years there was a character named Krampus. December 5th was
the day he appeared. He would snatch bad children and eat them. Krumpus had
hooves and horns. In Iceland during the Yuletide season, Gryla wanted to eat
children, so she would bring the children to the mountain he lived on and put
them in her stew. The story “Twas the Night Before Christmas” was written in
1823. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The Coco Cola company a
while ago decided to promote a fat santa with a beard. We must not forget the
Grinch. Christmas is celebrated in many different ways all over the world.
The creation of specific holidays
and the celebration of harvests and other special events were made possible by
the creation of the calendar. We learned about the solstice and equinox from
our ancestors. We know when to plant seeds at optimal times. Our Halloween beliefs
were fostered from a small opening in a cave in Ireland to the Norsemen and
their superstitions. When you prepare to pass out candy at your door on Halloween,
think about why this practice started.
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