Say Hello To Halloween2020 : Once In A Blue Moon!

At this time of year, the world is dipped in various graceful colors of festive, every corner is filled with attractiveness, appeal, shimmer, and love, and a gleam of happiness spread around. Every face is touched by a magical mist of excitement and every cell is drooled by the light and love, in the air.

While in India people are indulged in the shimmer of the festive season, whereas in the west especially in the US people are eagerly looking forward to being terrified soon. Halloween is a vital celebration in several nations, wherein people essentially uncannily decorate their houses and wear costumes to ring in the festivities. Sweets treat, and good vibes are shared among all as little children go around their neighborhood shouting

"Trick or Treat".

            source-britannica

The history of Halloween dates back more than 2,000 years to the Celts and is symbolic of the cycle of life and death.

The tradition emerged with the prehistoric Celtic festival of Samhain when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to scare away ghosts. In the 8th century, Pope GregoryIII picked November 1st as a time to honor all priests. Soon, All Priests (Saints) Day assimilated with some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known to people as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween emerged into a day of undertaking ventures like trick-or-treating, festive gatherings, carving jack-o-lanterns put on costumes, and devour treats.

                 source-MarketWatch

This day strikes the end of shimmering Summer and the beginning of cold and dark winters, a phase of the year which is believed to be co-related with the demise of human lives. Celts believe that on the night previous to the new year, the curtains that separate the worlds of the living and the deadlifted. When it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth when it was believed that on the night of 31st October the souls of the dead stepped back or paid a visit to the world of livings.

The Celtic priests assumed that the presence of the souls of dead or otherworldly spirit made it easier for the Celtic priests to make predictions and to showcase their slightly supernatural Power, in other words, the presence of dead helped the priests to peruse their activities in a better manner, to make predictions. For a human living in a strained world during that period, these sorts of beliefs were considered a warm process of passing cold winters and an uncommon way of celebrations.

To memorialize the occurring, witches or druids ignited huge sacred bonfires, where the common people gathered to sacrifice their crops and animal to the Celtic deities by letting the flames take over their crops and petted animals. During the whole process of memorialization Celts and known to be astrologers took over stuff made up of animal heads and skins, and made attempts to read and predict each other's fortune

                source- Bella terra

After the whole uncanny process of memorialization was over, they again ignited their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

On this day a fancy dress competition is being arranged for children especially where they tend to wear uncommon costumes resembled as their favorite fictional character, Anime figure, cartoons, and n number of other options to be dressed up as. They are fed and games are being played as a source of entertainment, trick shows are being arranged, in short, this Anglo festive day holds a vital place in the lives of elderly and non-elderly livings.

This day was filled with excitement in and out for people of all ages and specifically for children.

Undoubtedly, this showcases that festivals are not abided by borders. Every festival is celebrated in a various unique manner and known to people by various names, and somewhere in the parallel world all of us come together to celebrate days and dates in our preferred ways giving a try to do justice to our beliefs.

This halloween will indeed be spookier than ever, as halloween on 31st oct 2020 shares its thunder with blue moon,this halloween will definitely be "Once in a blue moon".

The last time blue moon concided with halloween was 76 years ago on 1944. And according to NASA the next spookiest day when halloween concides with blue moon will occur in the year 2039. Even though it's called blue moon ,the moon doesn't really appear bule.The moon rarely appears blue "due to particles thrown into the atmosphere by natural catastrophes" stated the NASA.