Spider’s legs and spooky beer– a ghostly-ghastly night beckons
Tonight’s a night for unending spectral horror and pleasurable fright: once again, ghastly figures, little witches and mummies roaming the streets and trekking from door to door. The houses and gardens are decorated to beautifully gruesome effect, and everywhere you go you hear “trick or treat” echoing through the darkness of the night. A fantastic night – not only for the kids. Even the adults have a lot of fun, preferably well-lubricated fun at their own Halloween party! Of course, these festivities are not everyone’s cup of tea, but fans of this horror-themed night will without a doubt be really enjoying themselves! But why actually do we celebrate this custom of “Halloween”? There are numerous myths purporting to explain the origins of this custom. The gruesome festivities for young and old alike, however, do not come form the USA, as many people believe- it actually originated in Europe.
And who invented it? No, it wasn’t the Americans!
More than a thousand years ago, the indigenous population of Ireland (the descendants of the ancient Celts) were already celebrating this night. From 31 October to 1. November, back then they ceremonially farewelled the summer. According to the Celtic calendar, this ended on 31 October and ushered in the end of the year.
The four different seasons, as we know them today, were still unknown back then. The Irish distinguished only two seasons – the summer was the time for living, and the winter was the time of death. What’s more, since they were terribly superstitious, they also believed that in the night the two realms of life and death came close together. And so as not to encounter Death, the ingenious Irish had a cunning plan: they outwitted Death by using eerie, spectral masks and make-up. This was to fool Death into thinking that they were already dead, so he wouldn’t take them with him down to Hades. Pretty smart, these Irish.
Besides all the ghostly, ghastly make-up and masks, they prepared lot of delicious food and drink for themselves, and also for their deceased ancestors. And then the exuberant celebrations often continued into the early hours of the morning. So why is this custom often assumed to come from the USA? Well, in the 19th century, many of the Irish emigrated to the USA, and of course they took their traditions with them. Not least the spooky custom of “Halloween“. This tradition was adopted so widely in the United States that over there today it’s one of the most popular holidays of all.
And why is Halloween now called Halloween?
It’s quite simple, really. On 1 November, devout Catholics still celebrate the festival of “All Hallows”. And so the evening of the 31st October was called “All Hallows Evening”, which was then abbreviated to the short and sweet “Halloween”.
Armed with all this spooky knowledge, you can now parade your erudition to optimum effect at a Halloween party today.
I hope you have a lot of fun, and hopefully you won’t overdo it on the sweets.
And I you need a modest inspiration for your party, we’ve recorded our two favourite ideas for you:
Your perfect drink for a Halloween party – blood beer
4 parts high-strength beer
5 parts of blood-orange juice
1 part of cherry liqueur or Campari
The eye-catcher at every party: the vomiting Julius pumpkin
All you need for Julius is a large pumpkin, nachos and guacamole.
And you can find a brilliant recipe for guacamole here.
