The Swedish retailer H&M has joined the eco-initiative previously put forward by competitors – Banana Republic and Urban Outfitters. The giant of the mass market began to test the service of clothes rental, the company said in its official statement. It was decided to start with a flagship store in Stockholm: residents of the Scandinavian capital will be able to rent their favorite items, wear them for a week, and then return them to the store. However, you should not flatter yourself – you can only have three items at the same time and the pleasure is not for free. The price of renting is 350 SEK (≈ 2,350 rubles) per item.
Interior of Times Square H&M store. Hennes & Mauritz is a Swedish multinational retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers and children.
“We have been looking in this direction for many years and are happy to finally provide fashionistas with the opportunity to rent items from our collections. H&M is committed to changing the way we manufacture and consume fashion”, said Pascal Brun, Head of Sustainability Department at H&M.
In order to inspire customers to reuse and recycle their clothing, H&M opened an atelier in the same flagship store in Stockholm. So, the Swedes will be able not only to rent new clothes, but also to repair the “oldies” of the wardrobe.
H&M flagship store at Times Square (New York, USA)
Innovations will be tested during three months and, if they turn out to be successful, will be introduced in H&M stores around the world. We can only wait until the innovations reach Russia, and not to forget about another service available at Moscow H&M stores. They accept clothing for recycle use.
It is worth paying tribute to H&M. The Swedish company passed the year of 2019 under the “eco” sign. The brand completely abandoned plastic bags in favor of paper bags and presented the next collection of Conscious Exclusive clothing made from recycled materials. The designers utilized pineapple fiber instead of genuine leather, waste from oranges instead of silk. These are modern environmental alternatives to raw materials of animal origin.
The humanity invented many calendars such as moon and moon-solar, Julian and Gregorian, also new Julian one. Let’s know what calendars used in Russia and how they affected contemporary holidays.
Ancient Slavic tribes had many customs connected with tne Moon
Our ancestors espoused paganism so they closely associated life with the cycle processes of nature. The ancient Slavic tribes counted time via moon calendar. The term between moon appearing and its disappearing constituted approximately 30 days and was called a month. The celebration of New Year started at around December 25 and lasted for a dozen days after the solstice. Then the duration of daylight started to expand, and the Slavs launched a new sowing circle.
The calendar changing in Russia happened in the X century because of a new faith arrival of. Knyaz Vladimir baptized his territories to the Byzantine rite. Christian date calculation came with the new religion. Since then Slavic tribes started distinguishing years from the Creation of the World and stated the 1st of March as the new year’s first day. Months’ names also were changed according to the Julian calendar that was invented in Rome at 46 B.C.
Ivan III removed the New Year from the 1st of March to the 1st of September. The tzar sought to unification of holidays in Russia, so in 1492 combined the New Year with the harvest festival and the tax collection time.
Gregory XIII is famous for the calendar introduced into the Catholic countries in XVI century. the author of the calendar is a priest and astronomer Christopher Clavius
In the XVI century, people found out that the duration of year in the Julian calendar did not correspond to the astronomical one. The Earth revolves around the Sun 12 minutes faster than the Romans believed in ancient times. In 1582, the discrepancy constituted 10 days. That was the reason why Christmas shifted to spring, and Easter to summer. To improve calculations, Pope Gregory XIII suggested a new calendar which was named Gregorian later. It was accepted so in Catholic world October 15 came after October 4 to annihilate the gap between calendars.
This gap between calendars accumulates over every 128 years. Therefore, before 1701, it made up 10 days, while nowadays it amounts to 13. While the dissimilarity between the Gregorian and astronomical year amasses over 3333 years. New Julian calendar is the most precise. It lags from the astronomical year no sooner than over 40,000 years pass. Until 2800, the New Julian and the Gregorian calendars are alike.
Peter I was that who moved the New Year to the 1st of January, though he left the Julian calendar. Therefore, Russia stepped into the 1700th year A.D. from 7208th year from the Creation of the World. However, due to the gap of 10 days Russians in St. Petersburg celebrated The New Year when, for instance, in Amsterdam people lived in the 10th of January.
Tikhon is the first Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia after the restoration of the Patriarchate in Russia in 1917
The second New Year occured in Russia after 1918 when the Bolsheviks finally switched to the Gregorian calendar. Although, the secular state accepted it, the Church still stuck to the old style. Patriarch Tikhon reject the calendar because according to it, the Orthodox Easter could fall before the Jewish holiday Pesach. It contradicted the decisions of the first Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325 A.D. Therefore, the Orthodox celebrate Christmas Eve not at the 24th of December as Catholics do but at the 6th of January. And they celebrate the Old New year at the 13th of January.
Thus, since the tenth decade of the last century, Orthodox people in Russia have been living simultaneously on two calendars with two new years and Christmas in January.
The tradition of decoration a fir at Christmas came to Russia from Germany. Peter The Great introduced this custom to the houses of the noble families and a century later sweets and fruits appeared on coniferous trees in every house. The Soviet government transformed the Christmas tree into a New Year’s one because of the ideological causes. As a result, nowadays it is impossible to imagine New year without a decorated spruce in the room. However, what if the New year is coming and you still do not have the tree?
Buy a tree in the nursery
In Dmitrov or Ulyanovsk nurseries you can choose a tree of 50 cm high for 200 rubles. Unlike the forest cutting, such one does not harm the ecosystems because workers of the nursery regularly sow new trees. In The Moscow region a meter-long spruce costs about three or four times cheaper than in Moscow. Cutting down a tree in the forest is illegal and lead to a fine of 3000 rubles or criminal liability. The forests of the Moscow region are patrolled since December 10.
Eight steps towards New Year mood
If there is not enough space for an entire tree in the room, you can use spruce branches as a basis and make a garland, wreath, or two-dimensional tree. It depends on your preferences. To make a wall Christmas tree, lay out the branches in a shape of fir and fix them with tape or office buttons. Decorate the tree with garlands, tinsel or balloons, as you would do with the traditional one. Besides the traditional paper snowflakes, you can make Scandinavian garlands or paint papier-mache toys to decorate the Christmas tree. If you want to make a wreath, weave a circle of branches, fixing them on the base with ropes and ribbons. Add cones, beads, and toys to it.
Create a hand-made eco-friendly Christmas tree
Make the main holiday tree on your own from cardboard boxes left over from Packed gifts or old equipment. Also, boxes can be bought in food-stores. It may give them a second life: you can put up the same cardboard Christmas tree for several years in a row. When it becomes redundant or unusable, take it for recycling. Depending on your confidence in the abilities, choose the variant with appropriate difficulty.
Cross Сhristmas tree. Initially, draw the details of the future fir tree on the cardboard as shown in the picture below. After cutting out all the details, take the parts of the tree and insert one half into the other. Then place the connected parts in the base. Color the Christmas tree as you like.
Cross Christmas tree
Snowflake Christmas tree. It makes almost as the cross but with more details. In this version after cutting the parts of the Christmas tree, they should be glued in the middle with double-sided tape not put onto one another.
Snowflake Christmas tree
Cone shaped Christmas tree. Firstly, you need to make several cones out of A4 sheets. Secondly, connect the parts together with tape or hot glue to make the structure more stable. Putting them together will require a bit of dexterity. A cylinder made of thick cardboard will be suitable as a base.
Cone shaped Christmas tree
Pyramid-shaped Christmas tree. This variety is for those who can read drawings. Detailed instructions on how to do it are here. So that the tree can be disassembled and reassembled, fasten the parts with buttons not glue.
Pyramid-shaped Christmas tree
Christmas tree for chemists
For this purpose, you will need legs for a laboratory tripod, the tripod itself, flasks and reagents. Before you start, remember the safety precautions and school chemistry course. Attach the legs to the tripod according to the number of flasks. Choose the color of the “balls”.
Keep such tree away from fire and little children
The blue color has copper vitriol (Cu(OH) 2) and copper sulfate (CuSO4). Silver chloride (AgCl) will give a white curd precipitate, and aluminum hydroxide (Al (OH)3) — white jelly-like, barium sulfate (BaSO4) — white flake-like. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and zinc hydroxide(Zn (OH)2) will also produce white precipitation. Silver bromide (AgBr) and silver iodide (AgI) will make the ball light yellow, and silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) lemon yellow. KMnO4 — high quality potassium permanganate, which will stain the water crimson. Conduct experiments, put the flasks in the paws and decorate the spruce.
On December 26, one of the most famous films directed by Andrei Tarkovsky will be released in 70 cities of Russia. It is a movie adaptation of the novel “Solaris” written by a Polish writer, Stanislav Lem. The film was first released in 1972. Immediately after the premiere, it received recognition from the general public and positive reviews from critics both in the USSR and abroad. This is proved by such awards as the Special Jury Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1972 International Cannes Film Festival, the Prize at the XXVIII International Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 1972, etc. Also, the picture is often recognized as one of the best science fiction movies in the history of cinema. Interestingly, the author of the original source did not accept Tarkovsky’s work.
Andrei Tarkovsky on the set of Solaris
The plot of the film tells a story about the interaction of people with an alien mind discovered on the distant planet Solaris. Like many other Tarkovsky’s films, the main theme of Solaris is various existential problems of a person, such as awareness of self-hatred or acceptance of one’s own fears. The main roles were played by Sergei Bondarchuk’s daughter, Natalia, the famous Lithuanian actor Donatas Banionis, one of the regular actors in Tarkovsky’s films, Anatoly Solonitsyn, as well as Yuri Yarvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky and Nikolai Grinko.
Natalia Bondarchuk and Donatas Banionis on the “Solaris” ‘s poster
Restoration of “Solaris” has been carried out at the Mosfilm studio since 2011. Such a long period is a standard for films released more than 40-50 years ago. All defects of the old movie should be eliminated by specialists manually: color correction and sound recording errors. To achieve maximum quality after the restoration, professionals have been working on old materials for years. In addition, “Solaris” is the second restored Tarkovsky’s film in the last year. In October 2018, his 1979 film “Stalker” was released for re-rental. It was about a journey to a mystical room located in a certain forbidden zone. According to rumors, any human desire could be fulfilled there. Just like Solaris, the dramatic parable quickly became a cult and was awarded at the International Cannes Film Festival. Anton Dolin, an editor of the “Cinema Art” magazine, noted that Tarkovsky is one of the few representatives of Soviet cinema whose films still regularly resonate with young people. And not only in Russia: “Stalker” is regularly included in the list of 250 best films according to users of the world’s largest cinema website IMDB. At the moment, the picture is on 181 place. That is why, Dolin believes that the re-releasing of such films on the big screen is justified.
The National Council of Critics of the United States recognized Martin Scorsese’s movie “Irishman” as the best film of 2019. This title is one of the most prestigious one for any Hollywood film. In different years the title was given to the “Silence of the Lambs” (1991), “Schindler’s List” (1993), “Pulp Fiction” (1994) and others. The “Irishman” is the second Scorsese’s work to be awarded with this title. The first one was the 2011 adventure film “The Guardian of Time”. In addition, a screenwriter, Stephen Zellian, also received an award for the best adapted screenplay.
Martin Scorsese is regularly recognized as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. For example, in 2010, a popular American film and music magazine, Paste conducted a survey that showed that readers rated Scorsese as the best director alive. He was ahead of Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch and many others.
Director of the “Irishman” movie Martin Scorsese
“The Irishman” is a crime drama based on the novel “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt. It describes the real story of trade unionist, Frank Sheeran, nicknamed “The Irishman,” associated with the Bufalinos mafia family. The budget of the film was about $ 150 million.
The main roles were played by Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel and other famous Hollywood actors. Interestingly, de Niro and Pesci haven’t participated in Scorsese’s works for 24 years. Their last collaboration was the movie “Casino” in 1995. Moreover, after this film, Scorsese stopped shooting criminal dramas, switching to other genres. That is why the “Irishman” is also interesting as a kind of Scorsese’s return to his earlier works.
Joe Pesci (left) and Robert de Niro (right) in the movie “Casino”
When creating the film, motion capture technology was used. It transfers the facial expressions and body movements of a real actor to a digitized computer model. This was done in order to show the main characters of the picture at different ages, without using makeup. This technology was popularized in the first half of the 2000s by a director, Peter Jackson, who used motion capture to create images of Gollum in the trilogy Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) and the King Kong movie (2005). The films were commercially successful, welcomed by the critics, and received many awards, in particular, the Oscars for the best visual effects.
Using motion capture in “Irishman”
The film is an exclusive product of Netflix company. It means that it is impossible to watch it in cinemas or on other entertainment streaming platforms. The “Irishman” was first shown on September 27 at the New York Film Festival. On November 1, it went on limited rental at 8 cinemas in New York and Los Angeles. On November 27, the film became available for viewing via Netflix subscription.
Ds are two Moscow Central Diameters which look like the mixture of underground and electric train system. There are, consequently, two routes of Ds: D1 Odintsovo-Lobnya that connects Belarusskoye direction with Savelovskoe one and D2 Nakhabino-Podolsk which connects Kurskoye direction with Rizhskoye one. They were launched at the 21st of November. Mr Putin took part in the opening ceremony of the new kind of transport on going from Belorusskaya train stop to Fili station. Ms Sobyanin who escorted the president considered that day to remain in history as a birthday of new vehicle.
Vladimir Putin was amongst the first passenders of D1
Governors travelled by “Ivolga” train. It is a new special train running on Ds. “Ivolga” has wi-fi spots bicycle mounts and sockets. The government believe that such facilities will make commuting more comfortable and convenient. To pursue the same purpose, trains follow the Metro schedule and run from 5:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.
It is supposed that passengers of Ds would save money on the travel cards. They used to get from Dolgoprudnaya to Skolkovo for 161 rubles while now they can do it for 45. Or from Stolbovaya to Nakhabino for 91 instead of 253. The cost of the trip can be calculated on your own: in Moscow the fare is 38 rubles from the borders of Moscow within the Ds — 45 and for each zone outside the Ds, you need to pay an additional 23 rubles changing to a suburban train.
The old “Ivolga” version 1.0
The designers assume that the new routes will allow passengers to get around the city twice as fast. In order to get to the center, residents of the Nizhegorodsky district, for example, need to sit at the station “Kalitniki”. Lublino dwellers should use “Kubanskaya” station.
However, Odintsovo dwellers did not appreciate D1 at the first day of opening. Because of the Mr president’s train, several suburban trains stood still for an hour or more, therefore the passengers had to out the trains and go to the nearest station along the railways. The gap between trains constituted about 30 minutes. It was not possible to validate Troika at all stations, because the new software was not installed at all of them. In order not to create difficulties with payment, the first two weeks of travel along the Ds will be free of charge.
Within 5 years Diamentes connect all parts of the Moscow region and Moscow
After launching the rest of Ds: D3, D4 and D5, the passengers would be able to travel through Moscow from Leningradskoye direction to Kazanskoye one, from Kievskoye direction to Gorkovskoye one and from Yaroslavskoye direction to Paveletskoye one. The government plan to open these directions till 2024. Then, for example, passengers of the Gorkovskoye direction will be able to transfer to Paveletskone one at the “Chukhlinka” station, and they will not have to use the metro. Also, transfers within Moscow will connect Yaroslavskoye direction with Gorkovskoye one, Gorkovskoye itself with Rizhskoye one, and it, consequently, with Kievskoye one.
According to a survey conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American spends about 3 hours a day watching TV, which equals about 20 hours a week. Recently, the streaming company Netflix found out that 61% of users regularly watch from 2 to 6 episodes of the series in one session.
Watching TV shows is a way to get rid of stress
Why do people consciously spend time regarding other people’s stories?
There are several reasons why watching someone else’s life brings emotional pleasure. The fact is that brains produce dopamine – one of the hormones of happiness. Psychology Doctor Rene Carr told NBC News that the hormone of joy puts a person in a condition similar to a drug addiction. The hormone sends a signal to brains which says: “This is good. Keep up with the good work .” That’s why a person cannot stop on a single episode.
There is a term “binge-watching”, which literally translates as a “drunk viewing.” Usually the word “binge” is used in the context of excessive drinking, overeating or shopaholism, but more recently it has been used in relation to series addicts. Dr. Carr noted:
“Neural pathways can provoke heroin and sexual addiction in the same manner as addiction to watching TV shows does.”
142 Toledo University study participants find themselves addicted to TV shows
Scientists from the “Laguna family” health center in California have found that our brains perceive all actions that happened on a television, book, or just in the imagination as real. We begin to associate ourselves with the character of the book or the hero of the television series. These heroes cause empathy. We want to experiencetheir feelings.
John Mayer, a clinical psychologist at the “Doctor On Demand” clinic, notes that people use fictitious reality to get rid of stress. Watching television shows helps them to block thoughts about everyday routine.
In a study conducted by the University of Toledo, 142 out of 408 participants found themselves addicted to watching TV shows. Addicts reported to have higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than others.
During a keen viewing, we dive into a fantasy world
According to experts, watching TV shows helps strengthen relationships with others. When a person regards series with other people, he feels himself as a part of the community. The world-famous festival “Comic Con”, which takes place in Russia, brings together the fans of various TV shows, comics, movies or video games every year.
Despite the benefits of the series, experts urge not to abuse viewing them. If you are thinking about spending an evening watching TV shows instead of talking with loved ones, the addiction is calling.
— Hey, guys, it’s time to go. The halt is over. Is everybody here? Hmm… Sasha… Where is he? Has anybody seen him recently? Well, the participant has gone let’s find him!
That was the beginning of “Medicine” part of “Noyabr’skiy marathon” , the contest organized by Hiking club of NRU HSE. Somewhere in Moscow region forests four girls and three boys searched for the fourth boy in the twilight. He hadn’t been seen since the beginning of the halt until 15 minutes later he was found at a spruce windfall. Sasha pretended that he was a sufferer with broken leg. We were to perform the first aid and carry him to the ambulance. Not in a serious way but as training. It was the challenge of “Medicine” part.
Firstly, we examined the “injured” person in the dusk, secondly, immobilized “broken bone” with trekking mats, ropes and sticks after dark. At the same time we were binding a stretcher. If a group is small and lights of lanterns are not pretty bright, the forest seems to be infinite and pitch-dark while people seem to be just small glow-worms that have to carry “injured”, into the civilisation. Where the civilisation was, everyone might have already forgotten because all trails couldn’t be seen.
You need a 30 metres long rope and at least 5 friends to make a good stretcher
The darkness was close to making Sahsa actually injured. Having put mats and jackets on the stretcher, we laid Sahsa on it and fastened him. When we lifted the construction, one log cracked, therefore, we had to fix it and hold the load on the rope. Walking through spruce windfall, we saw that two trees are too close to one another to walk between. Despite that fact, we had to go there as it was impossible to walk around. That’s why a couple of metres Saha was carried sideways perpendicularly to the Earth with his left side what made him scream with protest.
“Medicine” was not the only part of the contest. In each of three days participants faced up to three or four challenges. There they practiced skills essential for hiking and trekking. As the organisers had found themselves in different situations within their experience, challenges varied a lot. The next one, “Byt”:
— Are you going to take the backpack till the morning?
— Of course.
— This backpack for the whole night?
— Yeah, for the whole night.
— Will you, indeed?
— Actually, don’t postpone, give it now.
In this challenge we had to imagine that our group made the camp on the rock ledge of a sheer mountain side and one of backpacks fell into abyss. No sooner had we unbound the stretcher from “Medicine”, we started the discussion who would be that one without gear at night. The discussion looked like this: we pulled matches. Well, at that moment my heart was in my mouth. I thought that I just couldn’t bear sleep without warm sleeping bag and a sweater as it was freezing… and pulled a short match. In the group report my emotions were described in this way, “Lisa was deprived of her possessions. Luckily, she didn’t carry any joint gear”.
Tourists are unaware of bed weather, they are aware of good gear
Yeah, it was a luck because we didn’t lose the dinner consisted of bulgar and chicken fillet with sour cream or tents and axes. Night stay without them would have been much more tricky than without first aid and two bars of chocolate. Nevertheless, I still had to sleep without gear. In a windy and cold night it was scary. To solve this problem, we organized a brainstorm. As a result, all of us came to the conclusion that I should sleep with my friend in her large sleeping bag. Trekking unites, doesn’t it? Guys gave me warm clothes too. By the way, at the evening gathering at the fire I looked like a disco mirror ball as the special blanket in which I was wrapped reflected the light.
Hardships were waiting for the participants both at the challenge-parts and on the road. The next day when groups had to walk 30 km, according to the plan, all of them faced a life-long green fence. It was so long that “Petushki” team decided to go through the swamp in the darkness just not to walk around the fence. “Oi” team walked around the fence and figured out that three sides of it were approximately 3,5 km long. That way took them two hours… Our team “Schastlivyy sluchay [Happy occasion]” affirmed the name and found the hole in the fence. Behind tall metal sections was hidden a field. An ordinary field. Later we saw a road and lights of houses, though we were unable to understand what their habitants fenced. That is why the fence was named irrational in the reports.
“Petushki” repeatedly went across swamps. Difficult in daylight, such route is much more tricky at night
“Noyabr’skiy marathon” was 60 km of roads and trails, fields and windfalls, heels and swamps. Three teams of beginners and advanced tourists. Three days of jokes and adventures, two nights of songs. One unforgettable competition.
Modern Art paintings were provided by The Centre Pompidou in Paris, The Museum of Marc Chagall in Vitebsk, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Chagall Museum in Nice and private collections from Russia, France and Belarus. The project’s curator was Ekaterina Selezneva, an expert from the Marc Chagall committee in Paris. She explains why the exhibition is hosted in The New Jerusalem: “All his life the artist was searching for His Jerusalem”. The New Jerusalem appeared in the vicinity of Moscow in the middle of the XVII century. Patriarch Nikon planned to create an architectural copy of the Holy Land near the capital. And in the XX century, a museum was built in the monastery. It was then separated from the monastery and began to operate independently. This New Jerusalem History became an impulse for the organizers to talk about religion, life and love on The New Jerusalem’s soil, taking as an interlocutor the artist Marc Chagall, who also managed to combine religious traditions and cultural spaces.
“Twelve Tribes of Israel” were created by Marc Chagall in 1959-1960. Private Collection
The exhibition features 238 works of art, including 22 sketches that Russian viewers will see for the first time as well as 105 biblical engravings. The last ones the artist painted by hand and gave as a gift to his second wife Vava Chagall.
“Portrait of Vava” was created in 1966 in Paris. You can the Eiffel Tower at the top right and The Paris Opera at the bottom. Private collection
The idea of the exhibition is expressed by the words of Marc Chagall himself: “Painting seemed to me some kind of window through which I flew into another world.” He claimed that he was “born between heaven and earth” and constantly resided in this “intermediate” space, understanding his existence in art and life, as being in a special dimension. For Chagall, there is no distance between the visible and the imaginary, between the subject and the symbol, between the concrete and the abstract. “He carries everything with himself” – as one of his key characters – a wanderer flying over the city with a bag over his shoulders, in which he carries all his belongings. “Honestly, I am a man with one house and a single picture,” the artist assured.
The work Chagall is most famous for is «Over the city» appeared in 1913. The Tretyakov Gallery
“Chagall’s characters are simply endowed with the gift of flying – like birds or angels. They are light, like happy love, weightless, like a dream, directed to heaven, like a balloon. The sky for them is the same habitat as the earth. Love transfers Chagall to other worlds, to distant and near cities,” says curator Ekaterina Selezneva.
“Clock with Blue Wing”, created in 1914. Private collection in Paris
The title of the exhibition “Chagall: Between Heaven and Earth” refers to various periods of the artist’s career. His works of the first quarter of the XX century were devoted to “earthly life”. The paintings of the next 25 years are connected with “travels and bridges”. It was then, in 1931, that the author visited Israel. Paintings of the late period of his life may be characterized as “heavenly being”.
Although many people celebrate the Halloween at the eve of November 1, not many of them are aware of the roots of the holiday. This article is just about the history of Halloween.
The holiday was invented by Druids that was one of the peoples pertaining to the ancient Celtic tribes. The majority of Druids inhabited the territory of modern UK, France and Spain. They divides a year to 2 seasons, so they did not have Spring and Autumn. Summer ended at October 31 and the next day new season, Winter, and New Wear begun. Also, October 31 was the last day of harvest. Then Celtic tribes celebrated Samhain which means the end of Summer in translation from Celtic. During the holiday people lit sacred fires, thanked gods for not depriving the tribe from crops, and met the dark season. Samhain was the ancestor of contemporary Halloween.
The area setteled by the Celtic tribes B.C.
Ancient Celtic tribes adhere paganism. They believe that in the Samhain’s night souls of the dead roam in the world of the living. Celtic tried to propitiate them with sweet gifts so that they keep the next harvest safe. These beliefs have transformed into trick-or-treat tradition. Children knock to the doors of adults to entreat them to give sweets and biscuits. Nobody refuses because in the past superstition that anyone who did not open the door for the spirit, would be punished existed.
Halloween is the day when people eat the largest amount of sweets anually
One more custom is carving lanterns from pumpkins. Not having wanted to attract ghosts to houses at Samhain’s night, ancient Celts extinguished their hearths and kindled forest fires. To reach the forest safely, they dressed in animal skins. In the forest the Druids performed sacrifices: they burned cows at the stake. After that the fire became sacred. Members of the tribe placed coals from their fires in lanterns cut from turnips. Then the Druids took the lanterns and left them at the door so that the souls of their ancestors could see their homes and escape wandering around the world. Dark spirits, according to the Celts, were afraid of this fire.
The tradition is based on Celtic myths. The legend says that the Irishman Jack lived to outwit both God and the devil, therefore he did not go to heaven or hell after death but remained in purgatory forever. In order not to wander in the pitch darkness, he made a lantern. The farmer put a hell coal given by the devil into the lantern.
Nowadays, the pumpkin has become the main symbol of Halloween
At the beginning of the new era the Celts were conquered by the Romans then both were forced to become Christians. Because of this, pagan holidays were gradually mixed with Church ones or blurred but they were not consigned to oblivion, for example, Samhain underwent a metamorphosis.
After Pope Gregory III officially moved the celebration of All Hallows Eve from spring to November 1, the ancient pagan holiday and the new Catholic one coincided. From that moment Samhain was called Halloween. Initially, All Hallows Eve was shortened to Hallowe’en and then to Halloween.
Halloween parade in New-York, the capital of the holiday
In the 19th century many Irish emigrated to North America and brought the traditions of the holiday. Now Halloween is celebrated most widely in Canada, the United States, New Zealand and other English-speaking countries. From the beginning of A.D. to the XXI century many rituals have changed. Jack’s lantern is not made from turnips anymore, nowadays people make it from pumpkins. Moreover, they carve not ancestors’ faces but terrifying ones. Revelers do not dress up in animal skins they wear costumes of evil spirits. Nowadays, the celebration of Halloween is becoming more popular even in those countries that did not adopt the Celtic culture from their ancestors.
