C in em a n ia F e s t iv a l
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V o l u m e 20 I s s u e 9 T u e s d a y , 31 O c t o b e r 2000
T *H * E
Nico Oved
All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey... As the temperature drops, so too will the leaves
Goblins and ghosts and ghouls, Oh my!
It's Halloween. The only night of the year when it's cool to be a freak B y Ia n S p e ig e l T on igh t is H allow een . It’ s an anom aly am ongst celeb rated h olid ays, w ith roots in b o th p a g a n an d m o n o t h e is t ic r e l i g i o n . A lth ou gh there are several d iffe rin g versions o f the exact ancestral nature o f H a llo w een , m ost accounts p osit that H a llo w e e n is p ri m a rily descendant fro m the C e ltic fe s tiv a l Samhaim (pronounced S ow in ), w h ich was an end-of-sum m er harvest festival. T h e C elts inhabited B ritain and parts o f F ran ce fo r o v e r tw o thousand years. T h e subject o f several occupations, C eltic tradi tion and relig ion adopted bits and pieces o f severa l extraneous b e lie f system s o v e r the c e n t u r ie s , th e m o s t i n f lu e n t ia l b e in g C hristian. T h o u gh the C elts d id b e lie v e in
lif e after death, they had no c on cep tio n o f H eaven and H ell. Rather, they b elieved in a m a g ic a l lan d o f ill-te m p e r e d fa ir ie s w h o w e r e p ro n e to m is c h ie f. T h e tr a d itio n o f tric k -o r-tre a tin g stem s p a rtia lly fr o m C e lt lads and lassies jo in in g the fairies in som e good, old-fashioned trouble-m aking. In 835 B C , the C h u rch d e c la re d that N o v e m b e r 1st w ou ld be A ll Saints D ay, and subsequently, that N o v e m b e r 2nd w ou ld be A ll Souls D ay. A s Christianity began to play an e v e r in c r e a s in g r o le in C e l t ic l i f e , Sam hain trad ition s and p ra ctices (a lre a d y shaped by the R om an ‘ fruit-of-the-earth fes t iv a l’ , P o m o n a ) c o a le s c e d w ith C h ristia n ones, laying the groundwork fo r m odern-day H a llo w e e n . T h e m ost n o toriou s C h ristian contribution to H a llo w een is the concept o f
the body-snatching, flash-eating, e v il-in v o k ing witch, w hich resulted in m ore than a fe w w om en b eing burned at the stake. E ventually, ridin g a w a v e o f nineteenthc e n tu ry Ir is h and S c o ttis h im m ig r a tio n , H a llo w e e n m a n a g e d to m ig r a te to N o r th Am erica. Funnily enough, Am ericans did not im m ediately take to H allo w een customs, per haps not grasping the latent potential fo r m is c h ie f that u n d ersco res T r ic k - o r - T r e a t in g . S o o n , h o w e v e r , s w e e t c a k e s w e r e b e in g d o le d ou t an d p u m p k in s w e r e b e in g smashed. A lth ou g h H a llo w e e n is by no means a ubiquitous h o lid ay across the w o rld , m any cultures seem to h ave a festiva l d evo ted to the d ead . A z t e c s in S ou th A m e r ic a , f o r e x a m p le , c e le b r a t e d ‘ L o s D ia s d e lo s
Marie-Claire Blais Thursday, November 2nd at 6:30pm Indigo Montreal Trust - 1500 McGill College Avenue Meet Award-winning, internationally renowned Quebec novelist and playwright Marie-ClaireBlais, and multi-talented writer and translator Nigel Spencer as they read from The Exile &the SacredTravellers.
M eurtos’ (D ays o f the D ead ), b e liev in g that the m assive im m igration o f M onarch butter flies (typ ica l this tim e o f yea r) w ere the souls o f the dead retu rn ing. M o d e rn M e x ic a n s have adopted this b e lie f and celebrate ‘ L o s D ias de los M u ertos’ during H allo w een , A ll Saints D ay and A ll Souls D ay. On the p o ly th e is tic s id e , m a n y p a g a n s , W ic c a n s f o r exam p le, ob serve H a llo w e e n as a religiou s h o lid a y , p e rfo rm in g d iv in a tio n s and oth er religiou s ritualistic cerem onies. F or most, h ow ever, H a llo w een is m ore o f a tim e to indulge in sweets and take the opportunity to g i v ’ er one last tim e b efore the cruel w inter sets in. H a llo w een can also b e a tim e to tap p e o p le ’ s b e lie f in the occult.
C o n tin u e d o n Page 11
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