Barbara - Thanks for your interesting story about Halloween; I did not know that about the Irish. I grew up in Western Pa and never heard 'Help the Poor' in connection with Halloween, although, perhaps because my mother was English, I was aware of St. Stephens ('Boxing Day'), the day after Christmas. The Mexicans make a big deal of, I think it must be All Souls Day, which they call 'The Day of the Dead', and they have a traditional candy for the children which is in the form of little skulls. I'm not sure how this connects but no doubt somehow through the Catholic Church. Jan Barbara Eberly wrote: > > Dear Lurking, > > Your "help the poor" or went back to a middle stage of > Halloween. The "holiday" as we know it began when the > Christians in Ireland wanted to convert the pagans. > Halloween was Samhain (Sp?), the Celtic New Year. According > to their belief, the old year was over at sundown and the > new year did not begin till sunrise on the next day. > Therefore, the time between was "out of time" and an > occasion for the Fey to come more easily into "our" world. > The Fey were NOT cute little fairies dancing on flower > petals, they were big nasty creatures who took delight in > messing up the lives of mortals. Self respecting pagans > stayed home with their doors locked. As a demonstration > that they were protected by "Jesus and all the saints," > Christians dressed up and actually dared to go out on this > dangerous night. The Catholic Church -- following an old > established technique of overlaying a pagan holiday with a > Christian one -- announced that henceforth that day would be > "All Saints Day." (To be followed the next day by All Souls > Day -- they didn't want to leave anybody out!) It was > apparently relatively successful as a conversion technique. > (Not that the Irish really completely gave up their > conviction that there really were fey and little people > still out there waiting to create mischief.) > > >From there, there was a period when the poor went around > from door to door with the phrase "help the poor." They > were supposed to be given "circles of bread" (donuts???) -- > a symbol of eternity. (Did this mean that they were to be > eternally poor or that there would be bread eternally???? I > have no idea who came up with the idea or why. I always > thought it was a bit weird.) > > I think the "trick or treat" stage is American. I don't > know exactly how it got started here, but I suspect that the > Irish immigrants carried it over as a custom which got > somewhat tilted along the way. > > I don't know if you have people in the north who claim that > Halloween is a "Pagan" holiday (a contridiction in terms, > surely, since "holiday" is a contraction of Holy Day) and > that all Christians should therefore stay home with their > doors locked until the evil associated with this night is > safely over. > > Sound familiar??? > > Incidentally, for some reason Americans didn't seem to pick > up on the practice of going around on St. Stephens Day (the > day after Christmas) with a dead bird (or immitation > thereof) saying, "The wren is dead, the wren is dead, A > penny for it's head." > > Barbara > -- jan <janiceaf@ix.netcom.com> Researching names: FRANK, KELLER, LUPHER/LUPFER, PENROSE, SCHULTZ, TAYLOR