By: Peer Mohammad Amir Qureshi
It is a famous festival among the festivals celebrated in America in which people are seen walking like ghosts and witches in the streets, markets, entertainment centers and other places dressed in scary faces and scary clothes. Outside the houses, huge pumpkins are kept, carved with awesome shapes, and candles and lamps are burning inside them. They set up scary structures outside some houses and when you pass near them, they give you a heart-wrenching laugh.
These scenes are also seen in business places as soon as October begins. On October 31, when darkness begins to spread, groups of children and adults dressed in terrifying costumes go door-to-door knocking and shouting trick-or-treating. Which clearly means either give us sweets or get ready for some mischief from us. The family sent them away with chocolates and sweet pills
Beginning:
It is said that Halloween in the United States started in 1921 in the northern state of Minnesota, and this year, the festival was celebrated at the city level for the first time. Then gradually this two thousand year old festival spread to other towns and cities of America and then it took the form of a big national level festival and a huge business activity.
History
Historians believe that Halloween can be traced back to the pre-Christian era in Britain, Ireland and Northern France, where Celtic tribes celebrated the festival on October 31 every year. For them, the new year started from November 1. Due to seasonal activities, the harvesting of crops in these areas would end by the end of October and cold and dark days would begin from November. Winter was also associated by the tribes with the days of death as most of the deaths occurred in this season.
The belief of the Celtic tribes was that on the night before the beginning of the new year, i.e. on the night of October 31, the boundary between the spirits of the living and the dead softened and their spirits could come into the world and harm people, livestock and crops. Celtic tribes would light huge bonfires, distribute grain and sacrifice animals on the night of October 31 to appease the spirits. On this occasion, they used to wear animal skins and make strange shapes by putting animal horns on their heads.
When Christianity came to dominate these areas in the 8th century, Pope Boniface IV declared November 1 as ‘All Saints’ Day’ to abolish the old Quaker festival. This day was called ‘All Hallow’s Eve’ in those days which later became Halloween. Despite the efforts of the church, the importance of Halloween did not diminish in their hearts and people continued to celebrate this festival in their own way.
After the discovery of America, a large number of Europeans settled here. They also brought with them their own culture and customs and festivals. It is said that Halloween was originally celebrated on a small scale locally by European immigrants in Maryland and southern communities. In the 19th century, a large number of people from Europe immigrated to America, including a large number of Irish people. Their arrival gave the festival a big boost and popularity and many new things were introduced, most notably, the trick-or-treat, which is the most important part of the festival today.
At the end of the 19th century, Halloween parties became common in America, in which everyone, young and old, participated. In these parties, along with blood games and food and drink, terrible costumes were worn. Newspapers of that time used to publish such advertisements, encouraging people to wear costumes that would make people fall in love.
Around 1950, Halloween became more of a cultural festival than a religious one, with immigrants from other parts of the world participating in their own style. Gradually commercial sectors also started to market various costumes and other things to get their share from Halloween and trade on their scientific basis. And now that Halloween has become a huge cultural festival with billions of dollars in business.
Shariah perspective:
It is absolutely not permissible for the people of Islam to celebrate all such works and customs which are born from a particular culture, religion or ideology and are considered to be their identity. Because the Prophet of Islam, peace and blessings be upon him, has said:
“Whoever imitates a nation is one of them.” (Abu Dawud)
But such acts which are not related to any particular religion and culture but are performed by different nations without distinction, it is permissible to do them.
Halloween is a festival of Western civilization that originated with the tribes of Ireland. These tribes believed that on the night of October 31, the boundary between the spirits of the living and the dead softened and the spirits could enter the world and harm people, livestock and crops. To appease the spirits, tribals used to light bonfires, distribute grains and sacrifice cattle on the night of October 31. The current ritual of Halloween is an evolution of this thought. Celebrating such festivals is not permissible in Islam but is forbidden due to similarity with non-Muslims.
(The author is a columnist and is pursuing MSc in zoology at Dehradun.He tweets @peermohdamir)
