SEC-S13W2– “Do you know the true meaning of Halloween?”

Hey Steemian friends!

A few weeks back, I carved this Halloween pumpkin for an engagement challenge even though we don't celebrate Halloween. It was something I always wanted to try. Well, though I wanted to do it and know about those costume parties, I've no idea what was the true meaning behind this celebration. With this contest I think I can learn something today! so let's start.

🎃 What do you think is the origin of a Halloween party?

No idea! so I google. It seems Halloween, or All Hallows' Eve, has its roots in ancient Celtic traditions. The Celts celebrated a festival to begin the winter and named it as "Samhain". The winter been usually the darker and the coldest season they celebrated this date on Oct 31st marking the end of the harvest season. They believed on this particular night living and the dead blurred, and spirits roamed the earth.

To ward off these wandering souls, people would wear costumes and light bonfires. So, Halloween's origins are steeped in ancient traditions that have evolved over time into the holiday we know today.

🎃 Do you have any beliefs associated with this “Halloween” celebration?

As I previously said, we don't celebrate and I don't have any beliefs related to this celebration. However, I must admit, I loved this celebration from the day I saw this in the movies. Little scary but those fun and spooky costumes, parties and a lot of bonfires sound like a good time. If I had a chance I would definitely go and transform into a Dracula for a day.

🎃 Have you ever had a paranormal experience with this date?

Indeed I have! not only one but two!! The first incident happened when I was just 10 years old. Those days, I had to wake up early in the morning to get ready for school. So as I remember the time is around 04.30am. The first thing I do when I wake up is brush my teeth until my mother prepares a cup of milk. I usually do this in the pouch area which is close to the road. This particular morning I saw a strange glooming star traveling parallel to the ground. It travelled for roughly ten seconds and was about six feet above the ground. I couldn't believe what I saw and I couldn't scream to my mum also with the toothpaste dribbling down my mouth. Then I quickly ran to the kitchen to tell this my mum and she told me that I might have seen a "God Light" (a religious belief) and didn't care much. Till now I never saw anything like it and I heard there are few people who have the same kind of experience.

Then the next one is a little scarier than my previous experience. In our culture, we have traditions to protect our homes from evil spirits. One of my aunt's houses in the village went through this protective ritual about 10 years back, and I joined in. The ritual involved lighting oil lamps in every room, and if one went out, it meant the evil influence is inside the house and he would repeat the process until the lamp burned all the oil until it naturally went off. Once that happens the ritual conductor the "Gurunnanse" believes that the spirit is outside in the garden.

Then he asked a few males to join him for the next rituals. There were four of us behind him and he said mantras while performing some fireworks. When we got to a corner of the land he performed the lime-cutting ritual. We did this for the 03 corners and finally we came to the last corner of the land. Then he asked us to get together and not to fear anything while cutting the last lime he had. That was the first time I ever felt such powerful wind and an otherworldly scream whistle past above us. It happened so quickly we couldn’t believe what had happened. Then he performed fireworks again and finished the protection by saying his work was 100% done and nothing to worry about.

^{This is just an example of what fireworks mean | source}

The next morning, we went to the place where it happened and we saw about 10 feet above the ground the tree branches had been broken. I'd always been skeptical of supernatural entities before, but this experience made me reconsider!

Thank you for this spooky contest @teamvenezuela. Looking forward to taking on the next week’s challenge. I would like to invite @yoelmo26, @ninapenda & @edgarlygonzalez to participate in this contest.

Thank you.

Peace to all 🙏

^{Cover image is mine and Dracula made through Midjourney. Proper sourcing has been ensured for any other pictures used in the content.}