A few fun facts about the origins of Halloween (in Poland)

The first quarter of my new book entered its second-to-last phase: I’m filling the gaps or rewriting some sentences and… that’s soooo damn hard.

At least the days are colder and darker, what helps me focus and relax. The time between October and November is special for one more reason: Halloween!

Or, for me and other people who don’t like its Americanized, commercialized and/or christianized version: Dziady, Samhain or maybe even Divali.

Here, in Poland, Halloween is a quite controversial topic. People complain about borrowing American trends, “worshipping“ demons by dressing-ups, and other stuff. However, they forget about one thing: we have our own Slavic version of it. Me, and the other people who appreciate the older local traditions, prefer this version of Halloween.

How does it look like?

Even though each region had its own customs, they have many common features:

  • huge feasts and offering food and drinks to the souls of the ancestors. What’s the catch? You have to be calm and quiet so you won’t scare the dead. What’s more, you shouldn’t clean everything right after the party - let the souls eat as they wish.

  • fires and candles to guide the lost souls. They come here just to visit you, so they need to know the right way back. Luckily, fire scares the evils spirits too.

  • masks and costumes to dress up as the deceased people and help them find way to the other world

It’s an absolutely mystic time of the year, so I wish you happy Holidays!

 

I just hope that the future generations will offer me some coca cola and french fries when I die… 


Learn more about the Slavic origins of Halloween on culture.pl

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