關於萬聖節的風俗

　　萬聖節的一個有趣內容是“Trick or treat”，這習俗卻並非源自愛爾蘭，而是始於公元九世紀的歐洲基督教會。那時的11月2日，被基督徒們稱為 “ALL SOULS DAY”***萬靈之日***。這些風俗你都清楚嗎?

　　節日：萬聖節相關習俗知多少?

　　Halloween is upon us, and with it we see all the standard Halloween decorations and symbols –Lanterns, scarecrows, etc.? Did you ever wonder where these symbols come from?? When did Halloween actually start?? Why does it mean we have to buy candy, or dress up in costumes?? All your Halloween questions are about to be answered.

　　萬聖節影響著我們每個人，在聖誕節中我們經常會看到各式各樣的裝飾和符號。南瓜燈、稻草人云雲。你是否一度想知道這些標誌性飾品是從何而來的呢?萬聖節又是在什麼時候起源的?為什麼在這個節日裡，我們必讀得買糖果和盛裝打扮呢?所有這些關於萬聖節的問題都會在此給你一一答覆哦。

　　Halloween as we know it today bears little resemblance to the Roman harvest festivals especially celebrated the apple harvest.

　　如今為大眾所周知的萬聖節與曾經古羅馬的豐收節略有相似之處。當時豐收節這節日是專門為慶祝蘋果樹的大豐收而建立的。

　　The name Halloween comes from the 1500’s, and is a variation on “All-Hallows-Even”, the night before All Saints Day, or All Hallows Day.? As with many things, the Catholic Church had a holiday to coincide with a pagan celebration.?

　　萬聖節名字的由來大約在1500年代。是由“All-Hallows-Even”演變而來。在天下聖徒之日***All Saints Day***即萬聖節的前夕，天主教的教堂會以一個異教徒為批判物件舉行一次集會。這就是萬聖節的起源

　　So what do witches, ghosts, goblins, and the like have to do with all this history? Read on to find out.

　　但是巫師、幽靈、鬼怪和其他諸類事物又對這段歷史產生了怎樣的影響?讓我接著往下讀。

　　Corn Husks and Stalks of Wheat

　　穀殼和小麥的莖幹

　　The significance of corn husks and stalks of wheat is pretty straightforward.? Halloween comes in the autumn, the traditional festival celebrated the end of summer and the end of the harvest, so these images are meant to represent the end of harvest and the beginning of winter.? Corn and wheat are symbols of agricultural change, and the change of the seasons.?

　　稻穀的外殼還有小麥的莖幹所傳達的意思是非常鮮明的。萬聖節深受在秋季時分慶祝夏日離去、豐收結束的傳統節日的影響。所以穀殼和麥莖就是在傳達著豐收的喜訊還有冬季即將到來的訊息。稻穀和小麥是所有農作物從耕種到豐收階段的變化，同時也在向人們傳遞著四季交替的資訊。

　　The Colors Orange and Black

　　主打橙色和黑色

　　The colors orange and black are most likely further representations of the time of year, rather than any Halloween lore or mythology.? The color orange likely represents autumn, when the leaves change from green and orange pumpkins are ripe for the picking.? As mentioned earlier, the Celtic festival marked the transition between “light” days and “dark” days – so the black likely represents those dark days of winter when there are fewer daylight hours to attend to the fields and crops.? Of course, the modern secular Halloween retailers have certainly pushed the orange-and-black as official colors of Halloween, so such an explanation seems weak, but it’s true.? Sorry, to quote some movie somewhere, “orange is the new black.”? Or pink.? Or something.

　　萬聖節之所以是橙色和黑色作為主打色，很可能是因為在某種深層次的角度而言，這倆顏色象徵了一年之中時節的變化，沒必要把顏色的問題上升到學術或者神祕學的高度來探討。橙色很可能象徵著秋季。當葉子從綠色變成了橘黃色，南瓜也是如此，好像在提醒人們“我已經成熟啦，快來採我吧”。在更早一些的年份，古代的凱爾特文化下的節日把時間標記為“白色”和“黑色”。而“黑色”代表的就是冬季的時間，因為凱爾特文化發源於北愛爾蘭，眾所周知秋冬交際，太陽向南迴歸線移動，白天的時間短了，自然而然，黑色成為了冬季的代表色。現在萬聖節時期零售商們售賣的流行玩具大體都是這兩種色調。儘管你可能會覺得關於主打色的解釋有點牽強，但這可是真的。

　　Spiders

　　蜘蛛

　　As we move more into the “spooky” tales of the Halloween symbol, we’ll start with spiders.? Go to a Halloween party and you’re sure to see fake spider webs spread all over the place.? Forgoing a discussion of any potential mystical qualities a spider might have ***because, ew***, it is significant that spiders weave webs, which has long been associated with the passing of time, progress, and fate.? OK, so maybe that’s a little mystical too.? All in all, though, the spider’s spinning of its web is a great natural representation of the cycle of life – a spider spins its web, bugs fly into the web, nourish the spider, etc.? Also, spiders like dusty, dark places

　　當我們一想起無奇不有的萬聖節時，蜘蛛總是不可或缺的。如果你去參加一個萬聖節晚會，我敢保證你能在牆上看到隨意佈置的假蜘蛛網。摒棄一切關於蜘蛛的潛在的神話故事，我想蜘蛛之所以出現在萬聖節的舞臺很可能是因為它編織的蜘蛛網，讓人聯想到了時間的流逝，生活的前進，還有命運的不可預知。好吧，我承認，講到這裡就有點神祕感了。總而言之呢，蜘蛛織網的行徑在自然界是象徵生命迴圈的偉大代表——蜘蛛編織它的網，昆蟲粘在網上，成為蜘蛛的大餐等等，同時，蜘蛛喜歡滿是灰塵而又黑暗的地方

　　Bats

　　蝙蝠

　　Bats are nocturnal?creatures, so it’s natural that a celebration about the end of the light seasons and the beginning of the dark ones would incorporate them.? Additionally, in the old days Halloween meant big bonfires, which draw mosquitoes and moths, which would in turn draw bats,。Also, once vampire legends made their way into Halloween folklore, the position of the bat was set – since it was thought that vampires could transform into bats.?

　　蝙蝠是晝伏夜出的動物。慶祝豐收原本就是在白色季節***秋季***的結束和黑色季節***冬季***的開始期間。於是蝙蝠自然而然成為“步入夜色”的代表動物。除此之外，萬聖節曾經流行的慶祝方式是在篝火旁進行。這樣無疑吸引了許多蚊子和蛾子，因此也間接吸引來了蝙蝠。同時，吸血鬼傳說一度曾是民間最流行的熱點話題。自從古人認定吸血鬼能夠變成蝙蝠在天空中飛舞的時候，蝙蝠在人們心中的地位便再也無法動搖了。

　　Black Cats

　　黑貓

　　OK, so while Halloween started out to be about the end of harvest, etc., there are some ancient cultures who also believed that, on Halloween night, the veil between the living world and the spirit world was, if not lifted entirely, at least a little thinner.? Ancient Celtic religions taught that cats were reincarnated souls of humans, and that they were able to see the future.? Also, it was thought ***as mentioned earlier*** that witches could turn into cats.? Truth be told, most single ladies were thought to be witches, and, just like today, many of the single ladies had?cats.? So, in the 1600’s or so, the local cat lady would have probably been tried for witchcraft.

　　大眾普遍接受的是萬聖節是由莊家豐收之後舉辦的慶祝活動演變而來，但依然還有一些遠古的文化被人們所接受：在萬聖節的晚上，人間和冥界的關係會發生微妙的變化，即使兩者沒有實際上聯通，但還是有可能通過某種方式來接觸的。古代凱爾特宗教認為，貓是能夠被人類的靈魂所附體。通過貓的眼睛，我們可以看到未來。而且在此之前，人們還認為巫師能夠附體在貓的身上。實話說，當時許多單身的女士被看作是女巫。就算時至今日，許多單身的女士還是會養貓相伴，所以在十五世紀，養著貓的單身女士都被認定其具有某種可怕的巫術。

　　Skeletons

　　骷髏

　　The Druids and the Celts believed that the skull was the “psychic seat” of the human soul.? All in all, skulls and skeletons are associated with Halloween because they represent the end of the physical part of life, something that is connected to Halloween both because of the death of the “light” seasons and because of the perceived connection to the spirit realm.

　　以前的祭司和凱爾特人相信頭骨是人類靈魂的寄居地。總的來說頭骨和骷髏之所以與萬聖節有關是因為他們代表著生命在肉體層面的消亡。這與萬聖節是在慶祝白色季節***秋季***的終結之意在精神層面而言，又是不謀而合。

　　Ghosts

　　鬼怪

　　The idea of ghost plays into this idea that Halloween night is the one night that the spirits of the ancestors are able to walk among the living.?

　　人們認為在萬聖節之夜，那些死去的人的鬼魂能夠在人間遊走。目的不用多說，肯定是在找還魂的機會!

　　Masks and Costumes

　　面具和服飾

　　Speaking of ghosts, what is Halloween without costumes Back in Celtic times, it was thought that if you could trick the spirit, the spirit would refrain from bothering you about pesky things like tributes and respect.? On a night that the “veil” between the spirit world and the natural world was so thin, it’s best to pretend to be someone else.? In the 1950’s, trick-or treating became all the rage in the United States ***can you believe it was that late?***

　　一說起鬼怪，萬聖節不能缺少的當然是鬼怪的服飾啦!追溯到凱爾特時期，凱爾特人認為如果你能夠捉弄鬼魂，那麼它將不再有膽量去騷擾你，反而會更加敬重你。在萬聖節當晚，人間和冥界的隔膜會變得非常單薄，防止鬼上身的最好的辦法就是戴上面具假裝成另一隻鬼。1950年後，“不招待就使壞”的習俗才開始在美國流行起來。***你能想象到這種習俗竟然是近代的產物?***

　　Pumpkin lanterns

　　南瓜燈

　　Originally, the beggars put candles inside them to light their way from house to house to beg and pray.? Eventually, the tradition changed to carving pumpkins, and Jack-o-Lanterns as we know them were born.? One legend sticks out above all others in regards to the Jack-o-lantern tradition.? An Irishman named “Stingy Jack” was a?drunk?and a prankster, and he managed to make both God and the Devil angry.? He died, and neither heaven nor hell wanted him, so he was stuck wandering around on earth.? He carried a turnip, hollowed out, with a candle inside, to light his way, and to keep him from knocking on their door, the Irish would carve scary jack-o-lanterns to put around their houses to keep him away. Or, so they believed, and a tradition was born.

　　最初，乞討者們把南瓜扣個洞，然後放進蠟燭用來照明，以此能夠在晚上向人家行乞或者是替他們禱告。最後，該傳統逐漸演變成了雕刻南瓜，傑克·奧的南瓜燈由此誕生。這裡有個傳說，曾經有個叫做“有次的傑克”的愛爾蘭人是個地道的酒鬼，也是個愛搞惡作劇的人。最終他的行徑惹怒了上帝和魔鬼。他死了之後，天堂和地獄都不願意收留他，他只能遊走於塵世之間，夜幕低垂時分，他就把大南瓜摳個大洞，並將點燃的蠟燭放置其中以此照明，去敲每家每戶的大門。愛爾蘭人為了能夠驅趕走傑克，都在自家門口做同樣的南瓜。做南瓜燈的傳統因此誕生。

　　萬聖節的習俗

　　10月31日萬聖節前夜是美國、加拿大和英國最受歡迎的節日。節日源起於對死者的紀念日。但現在它完全一場大狂歡，人們盡情享受著改裝易容互相恐嚇的樂趣。

　　面具化裝

　　萬聖節前夜一年之中孩子們最喜歡的夜晚，打扮成妖怪去鄰居家，敲著門大喊：“不給糖就搗蛋!”當然，人們通常會給“糖”——比如甜食或者巧克力。

　　但你不給，那就等著一場惡作劇吧，你會你的車窗被塗上了肥皂，垃圾桶翻倒在地，等等。

　　南瓜燈

　　萬聖節前夜的眾所周知的傳統用南瓜做成燈，叫“傑克燈”。把南瓜裡面掏空，然後在南瓜上切出一張臉孔，通常是一張笑眯眯的魔鬼面孔。最後，在裡面放上一隻蠟燭，然後把南瓜燈房子前面用來嚇跑那些邪惡的幽靈。

　　漸漸地，這些傳統習俗已演變成今天年輕人的慶祝活動，大家盡情在這晚扮鬼扮馬，過一個開開心心的節日;參與其中的有大人有孩子，不限年齡、性別國籍，即使你是膽小鬼，也會加入他們的行列一起玩。