Halloween day – Trick or Treat ?
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| Halloween Dressup |
Halloween, All Hallows’ Eve, or All Saints’ Eve, is a celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 of October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. Halloween is celebrated as a day to commemorate the ancestors, Saints and Martyrs.These days, Halloween is becoming popular day of celebration not only among kids but also the adults. So, the day usually the houses are decorated with all scary, ghostly things like, Cobwebs, Skeletons, Pumpkin – Jack o Lantern and anything that displays some touch of spirits. So the Halloween parties of kids consists of celebration by dressing up in ghostly cloths, games, food and plenty of lollies. The adult parties are a mix of scary and stylist historic costumes like Prince,Knights and Princesses or just anything that is different. Whatever it is, it looks like the retailers made a good profit, this year by selling all those masks and Costumes, lollies, electric lamps and Pumpkins. I asked few people but, no one seems to know the origins of wearing the costumes originated from. However, I got the information from net that, Halloween thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. Trying to scare ghosts away by becoming more scarier than them.? Yeah, it looks like we are succeeding in this effort. Well, all for fun and some good time. I came across these photos from my friends Facebook page and she graciously agreed for me to post them on my blog.
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| Halloween Finger food – Short Bread with Almonds |
I had some interesting feedback and comments from friends about this celebration. One of my friend complained that, his son is refusing to come for an evening walk with him because, one of the home’s in their street had this really, scary decor of Halloween, a dead body hanging with its throat choked by a rope, in their front veranda, almost on the road. Another colleague told me that, he heard few knocks on the door but, did not open the door because, they are some kids coming to ask for Lollies and treat on the Halloween eve. He explained me the concept of treat or trick which is, when people come asking like that you either trick them by giving them a Gift pack with nothing in it or with a note which says, “You are tricked” and the other option is simply give them a treat, a bag of lollies, chocolates etc. He can’t be bothered to do either and that’s why he didn’t open the door.
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| Halloween jack o lantern |
Overall, I see the modern day Halloween as another form of Celebration, having fun, doing something differently, get some happiness and joy in the celebration. It is interesting to note that everyone in this world is seeking Happiness. Not even a crazy person wants misery. In his craziness, he does something crazy that he thinks will make him happy. Even people who go into depression, it’s not that they want to be that way. It is not that they don’t want to be happy. It is just that, they are unable to be happy. The holy scripture called Vedanta Sutra 1.1.12(Vedanta means the pinnacle or end of highest knowledge or Sutra simply means Rules) says, ‘Ananda Mayo Bhyasat’- by nature the living entities are pleasure seeking. Furthermore, it is said that because we are spiritual beings nothing material can satisfy us. What this means is that, Objects can satisfy the senses of the body. Various emotional gratifications can satisfy the mind. But the heart is yearning, longing, to love and to be loved. So we are trying to find that experience of pleasure in so many ways in this world but, nothing material can actually satisfy the heart.
Personally, I don’t have anything against Halloween parties or all the fun people are having but, the main point the Vedic scriptures point out is that we are trying to find the pleasure in wrong things and wrong places. And, even if they find some happiness, that is for a short period and fleeting and in fact actually can make people frustrated and angry. The final and true place to repose our love or seek the ultimate pleasure is by connecting with that possessor of that unlimited pleasure, the Supreme God. And once someone experiences that supreme love and pleasure from God, they experience the unlimited bliss and happiness which naturally extends to all the living beings who are part and parcel of the supreme lords creation. This is the love, compassion and happiness experienced by so many saints and devotees of the God that we see in different religions of the world.
I Hope you all had a Good Halloween day celebrations..
