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Ancient rituals of Halloween

By DAR A. HADDIX
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Halloween is now a time when people dress up, eat candy and hang glow-in-the-dark skeletons on their doors, but long ago it was a time to honor and care for the dearly departed, according to "The Book of the Year -- a Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays," by Colgate University professor of anthropology and astronomy, Anthony Aveni.

October 31 falls between the fall equinox and the winter solstice, one of four points in the year -- February 1, May 1, August 1, and November 1 -- that signify "drastic changes" in the seasons. Aveni's book describes how cultures from the Babylonians to the Germans observed what we now know as Halloween

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Some visualized the spirits of their dead as out "roaming the hillsides," and believed they needed food and warmth to get through the winter just as the living did, Aveni said during an interview with United Press International. In this age of climate-controlled homes and cars, we are "protected from the ravages of climate," unlike hunter-gatherers or farmers centuries ago, Aveni said.

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During this time of year, the living felt the dead needed "not just reverence, but protection." People would leave food offerings so their dead could eat, and light bonfires so they could keep warm, Aveni said.

In fact, the modern custom of trick-or-treating, or "'masked ritual solicitation' ... really has to do with collecting food offerings that will be given to the spirits."

He indicated that people can get a good idea what Halloween is all about from the Mexican Days of the Dead. The festival, during which the bereaved picnic, feast and visit graves, is dedicated to "honoring, protecting and nurturing" the dead, and can last up to two weeks.

"In many cultures, you're not gone when you're dead," he said.

In fact, the Inca were so devoted to their dead that they would place their mummified bodies at the table during holidays so they could be with the family while they dined. The Inca even had to pay their dead's taxes, a burden which some say brought down the Inca empire -- a theory with which Aveni, however, does not agree.

Others saw it as a time to thank their gods for a good harvest year, Aveni said. "People feared the forces of nature, but they had faith in their gods."

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Aveni calls the contemporary observance of Halloween a "highly sanitized salute to commercialism."

"Christmas was the premier holiday to go shopping. ... Since World War II, the attitude of capitalism has spread to other holidays."

He added that virtually all holidays have become commercialized. "You have the holiday, I'll show you the display," he said.

But the day was also a time to protect oneself against malevolent spirits. During the changing of the seasons, people believed that the door separating the worlds of the living and dead opened, and both good and evil entities could emerge. In his book Aveni describes how the Celts built bonfires with the dual purpose of attracting their dead and warding off unfriendly beings, while ancient Romans threw black beans at spirits hoping they would take the beans instead of living family members.

For this reason, he said, people performed rituals of protection against such beings -- possibly the source of ghost stories.

And jack-o-lanterns used to be ... jack-o-turnips. Irish legend alleges that a man who played tricks on the devil wanders the earth with a hollow turnip lit with a coal from hell, said Aveni. To keep him and other troublesome spirits away, the Irish would set out their own glowing turnip, carved with a frightful face.

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