| Term Paper Title | Holiday Celebrations |
| # of Words | 1084 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 4.34 |
Holiday Celebrations
Isn’t it amazing how many holiday celebrations we’ve got, but we don’t really know how they started. You see, the problem in our society, is that we know that these celebrations exist, but none of us bothers to know why. And this is exactly what causes our society to take a step backwards. To prove my point, I have here several celebrations and stories on how they started. (I bet you didn’t know how half of them started!)
HALLOWEEN (31st of October)
What exactly is Halloween? People-mainly children- would think that it is a day filled with ghost stories, Trick-Or-Treating, Bobbing for Apples, Dressing Up into scary costumes. But that’s not what Halloween is all about.
Halloween started as a religious holiday for the Celts.
“The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France”.[1]
[“Ancient Origins.” The History Of Halloween. April 9, 2004
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/hallowmas.html]
All Hallows Eve, which is now known as Halloween was the last day of the Celtic year. They believed that on this day, a thin line between the worlds of the living and the dead opens, hence allowing the spirits of the dead and other creatures such as fairies, goblins…etc. to come into the world of the living.
”Halloween costumes originated as means of frightening away spirits who were eager to possess the living.”
[Penati, Charles. Penati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. 1987: 62-64]
It was believed that Trick-or-Treating originated from a European custom called “Souling”. People gave beggars square biscuits with currants, called soul cakes. The beggars were given these cakes as a promise to pray for the donor’s generosity, hence the more prayers the donor gets, and the higher chances the donor has to go to Heaven.
[ Penati, Charles. Penati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. 1987: 62-64]
But today, People commemorate Halloween in diverse ways. For instance, Costumes aren’t used to scare away spirits, but as methods of playing adolescent pranks on other people. Trick-or-Treating isn’t used for receiving prayers, but merely as a way for children to get more candy.
CHRISTMAS (25th of December)
”Christmas, annual Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. The official Christmas season, popularly known as either Christmastide or the Twelve Days of Christmas, extends from the anniversary of Christ’s birth on December 25 to the feast of Epiphany on January 6.”
[Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia. “Christmas” Christmas. 1997-2004 http://encarta.msn.com/text_761556859___1/Christmas.html]
The idea of celebrating Dec. 25 was first suggested during the beginning of the fourth century. You see, the clever conceit of church priests wanting to hide the December 25 celebrations of a religion that threatened Christianity.
The celebration of Christmas took its permanent hold in the Western world in 337, that’s when the Roman emperor Constantine was baptized, thus for the first time, collaborating emperorship and Church. After that, Christianity officially became the state religion.
[Penati, Charles. Penati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. 1987: 67-68]
CHANUKAH (25th Day of Kilsev)
Jewish people all over the world celebrate Chanukah b...Read entire document
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