“All Hallow’s Eve” is the eve before the religious feast All Saints (aka All Hallow’s Day), remembering the dead, saints and martyrs of christianity. Many of the traditions of Halloween are believed to originate in ancient Celtic harvest festivals and pagan traditions. It was mainly Irish immigrants to the USA who brought along the many more secular traditions like trick-or-treating, Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns and lighting bonfires.
While in Europe All Saints was mainly celebrated in the religious sense (remembering the dead, lighting candles at their graves), in the last ten years the more “American” way of celebrating Halloween became more popular into what is now a big commercial business for retail.
That said, I still have some candy at home in case there are some trick-or-treating kids at the door (which happens less and less as our own kids and their friends are grown beyond collecting candies) and watch a good classic horror movie in the darkened living room.
I wish all of you a very creepy Halloween (stay safe noneless)
Marcus
Related Posts:
Nuremberg Explored (3) – Hangman’s Residence
Saturday Rush (or running after the subway bird)
Instant Inspiration (10) – Nocturnal Skyline
Hope you had a great time. Hugs
Oh yes I did…now back in the corporate rat race, not to mention the dull grey German skies…..
I hear ya, hard to believe I’ve been back a month already
I tell this to my pupils who think All Saints Day, el día de los santos, is boring
Thanks 🙂
This was our first year without a child to take trick-or-treating. Our neighborhood doesn’t bring them to our door either. We opted for scary shows at home! 🙂
Nothing like a good scary movie 😉 !
Sehr cooler Moment!! Ich bin ja persönlich kein Fan von Halloween… Muss ich aber auch nicht, schön das andere ihren Spaß damit haben 😉
Danke, ja, den Kids sollte man den Spaß schon gönnen 😉 bei mir tut es auch ein guter Gruselklassiker!
Happy Halloween Marcus! A few kind witches are going to fly overseas and plan to visit your city and say hello to you and your family from me.
Thanks, Kaya, it means a lot! Marcus
Great photo!
Thanks, much appreciated! Marcus
Are all the graves in the cemeteries decorated with beautiful greens and candles?
Yes, they are. Generally, graves here in Germany not only have the tombstone, but also an attached plant bed for decoration with flowers and greens. And at All Saints Day all graves have also a burning candle.
Thank you.
Don’t know if you saw it, I have a new post up showing the candle lit graves….
I’m going to go snd look right now thank you
Happy Halloween Marcus, ha ha keep safe 🙂 Lynne
Thanks, Lynne, you too 👻😀
Happy Halloween Marcus. The witches will be flying over the streets of Huddersfield tonight no doubt.
Stay safe, Jill 😉 Happy Halloween 👻