Friday, October 30, 2009

Happy Halloween...genealogy style^_^

Well, I thought I would stop by to wish everybody a happy Halloween, and I couldn't help but create a ghost family tree:

By the way, did you know that Halloween means Hallows Eve (the eve before the Day of the Dead, on the 1st of November), and its origins are Celtic?
2,500 years ago the Celtic people from what is now the UK celebrated New Years Eve at the end of the summer, not in December, and for them this day was the 31st of October. For some reason, the Celts thought that on this day the spirits would come out of their tombs and walk the earth. To scare off the spirits, people decorated their houses with bones and other scary objects that would ward off the spirits. 
Nowadays, Halloween is most celebrated in Anglo-saxon cultures where people dress up like monsters and fantasy creatures and do Trick-or-Treating.  Most homes, as you may have noticed, put a Jack-o-lantern outside on the doorstep.
I must say that while I knew about Halloween when I was in Italy, unless you knew some Americans or English people, nobody would celebrate it. The day to put your mask on is  "Carnevale", instead, which comes 40 days before Easter, but I will talk about this when time comes.
It is indeed  incredible how things might change in just a few years though...
From what I have noticed, many people in Italy now celebrate Halloween too.
So, wherever you are, whether you celebrate it or not,
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

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