Halloween
Halloween is a holiday typically observed on 31 October, the is best known as a night when children dress in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweets or gifts. It is celebrated in a number of NationStates societies, with some treating it as a religious holiday focusing on adults as well as children and others as a more commercial day focused primarily on children. In some societies the holiday is better known as All Hallows Eve, All Saints' Eve, and Samhain. According to the multiverse theory, the holiday actually has several different origins, unique to the culture that recognize the holiday. In certain countries such as Swilatia the holiday is completely ignored, and seen as a promotion of silly superstitions.
Contents
Countries that recognize Halloween
The following is a list of countries in NationStates that officially recognise Halloween as a national holiday:
Countries where Halloween is celebrated
Many or most citizens of these countries generally celebrate Halloween, but Halloween is not treated as an official national holiday.
Countries that ignore Halloween
The following countries neither recognise or celebrate halloween
Halloween in various countries
Halloween in the Resurgent Dream
In the Resurgent Dream, the celebration of Halloween is uneven. It is widely celebrated in the Principalities of Holista, Wintermore, Pele, Sanero, Shieldcrest, Fireforge and Amory while being virtually ignored in the remaining principalities.
The term Halloween comes from hallow and eve, as it is the evening before "All Hallows Day". Among cultures of Irish origin, the term All Hallows Eve has historically been more common and is still used by older people and in many rural communities. Halloween is also sometimes called All Saints Eve. The holiday is pagan in origin but was reinterpreted by Christian missionaries in ancient times. However, the older, pagan versions of the holiday still survive in some places, either restored by Neo-Pagans or maintained by pre-Christian European religious cultures which were never supplanted by Christianity. Samhain, one of the ancient holidays from which Halloween is derived, is still a sacred day for Danaanists and, in light of that faith's historical importance in the Resurgent Dream, many non-Danaanists (including many Christians) continue to celebrate Samhain as a secular holiday.
In some places, Halloween is referred to as Pooky Night in reference to the Pooka, a notorious race of pranksters. This is especially true in rural parts of the Principality of Holista.
Many occult traditions teach that Halloween is a liminal time of the year when the spirit world can most easily contact the natural world and when magic is at its strongest. Rumors abound that witches draw great power on this night. In Western cinema, horror films and films about the supernatural are often set on Halloween.
Halloween in Mikitivity
All Hallows Eve, as it is called in Mikitivity, is one of the few holidays recognized by every canton and the celebration of the holiday dates back over a thousand years in the Thuvian and Solacewald mountain ranges. The early mountain communities frequently fought against each other, and many employeed magic and claimed to use the armies of the fallen to aid them to protect their homes. Long before the adoption of the modern calendar, the holiday was celebrated as a communial preparation for the beginning of winter. It was believed that on the night before the beginning of winter that the dead of the past year would come one last time to visit their families and loved ones. It was at this time that families could release the dead to travel onto the beyond or they could retain them for another year, to aid in protecting their homes and villages from neighboring villages. On the night of All Hallows Eve village leaders would organize senace ceremonies in order to facilitate communications with the dead. People would stay up all night and decorate their homes with fall harvest items, including setting additional dinner places for the dead.
Symbols
One of the common themes between all the various forms of Halloween is that most versions of the holiday share many common symbols. These symbols focus on death, magic, and mythical monsters. Some of the most common symbols include ghosts, ghouls, witches, bats, black cats, spiders, goblins, zombies, skeletons, werewolfs, and demons. In most Halloween celebrations homes and people are dressed in these symbols.
Black and orange are the most comonly associated colors of Halloween. However in some nations, green and purple are also prominent colors.
In more agrarian societies elements of the autumn season and fall harvest are also incorporated into Halloween symbolism, include pumpkins, scarecrows, and corn stalks.
