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Issue: #45
October 29, 2012


Volume 2, Letter 45
 

October 29, 2012 

 

Halloween - a history lesson.

 

 

From History.com.

 

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. 

 

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. 

 

By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. 

 

On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. 

 

Pope Gregory III (731-741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. 

 

By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands.  All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before it began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

 

For those who celebrate Halloween and take their children out to enjoy the American version of this holiday, teach them a little history.  

 

 

It is not about the candy,

  

Dr. Magryta


American Halloween

Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. 

 

The first celebrations included "play parties," public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.

 

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland's potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today's "trick-or-treat" tradition. 

 

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. 

 

In the 1900s, Trick-or-treating became a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. 

 

Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday.

 

The American Halloween tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. 

 

In my estimation, the practice of giving volumes of candy has passed its day with so many obese and nutritionally deprived children.  I encourage parents to break the mold and either buy back the candy from your kids or replace it with something healthier.  I know that this sounds draconian, but desperate times demand desperate measures.

 

In the Magryta household, candy is indulged upon only on the 31st. The following day it is back to a predominantly candy free life.  

 

Dressing up as Gomez,

 

Dr. M


 

Recipe of the Week


Berry Smoothie
 
Any favorite berry - 1 cup
Strawberries - frozen or fresh - 1 cup
1 Banana
Almond milk - unsweetend - 1 cup
Chia seeds - 2 tsp
Flax seeds - 1 Tbsp
ALmonds - 1 Tbsp
Whey protein powder - 1 Tbsp
Yogurt plain - 4oz

 

Instructions:

 

Blend and enjoy,


Dr. M

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Copyright � 2010-2012 Christopher J. Magryta, MD. Readers, please note: The information provided in this newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for advice and treatment provided by your physician or other healthcare professional and is not to be used to diagnose or treat a health issue.


 


Chris Magryta
Salisbury Pediatric Associates
Touchstone Pediatrics