Halloween will be celebrated on 31st October in USA and I could not enjoy the joy and festivity associated with this unique festival as I have to cut short my US trip due to some personal engagement in India. But the Stores and malls were decked with the Halloween goodies and costumes which can convert you to a devil, witch in few minutes. Pumpkins also play an important role on this festival so pumpkins of all shapes and sizes are available not only on grocery stores but also Departmental Store chains like Safeway, Costco, Fred Meyer, Walmart, Dollar Trees. Total spent on Halloween in US is almost US Dollar 6 Billion each year. This festival now in US is secular in nature but initially started in Celtic region of Europe as a occasion to remember the ancestors just like our Pitr-Paksh much before spread of Christianity. Also we may trace lot of similarities in our fast eroding tradition of Tesu Jhanjhi with Halloween.
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires like our Holi, where the people gathered to burn crop produce and also offer animals to their deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
In 1000 A.D., the church declared November 2 as All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
In America initially celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in America..
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans also began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.
In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.
By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular and a community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires like our Holi, where the people gathered to burn crop produce and also offer animals to their deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
In 1000 A.D., the church declared November 2 as All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
In America initially celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in America..
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans also began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.
In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.
By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular and a community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time.
By the 1950s, town leaders in most of the US cities had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated.
Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. The whole process remind me about a long forgotten tradition of Tesu and Jhanjhi prevailed in North India specially in Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh. Just close to onset of winter boys with a structure like head rested on tripod made of three sticks called Tesu goes from door to door in their Mohalla in small groups singing Tesu songs and asking for money and goodies.Tesu, it is believed,was Prince Brahuvahan of Mahabharta time.
Legend goes like this that during Mahabharat time unmarried Kunti gave birth of a boy called Brahuvahan. She had no choice but to sent him to jungle in his tender age, As a child he was very notorious, used to tease everyone, people complained to Lord Krishna, to end his notoriety he slain Brahuvahan , but it is believed that he had tasted Amrut so he did not die, Lord Krishan kept his slain head on date tree.But he continue to tease people. So Lord Krishna created a girl with his divine power, named her Jhanjhi and got her married with Tesu. But even after that Tesu was helbent and keep on teasing people.
While boys carry Tesu, the girls in turn carry a small perforated clay pot, with a small Diya lighted in it, called Jhanjhi and they too will go to the homes in neighborhood and sing
‘Tesu Jhanjhi gaye bazaar, wahan se laaye aam ka achar;
(Tesu and Jhanjhi went to the bazaar, where they bought mango chutney,)
‘Tesu Jhanjhi gaye bazaar, wahan se laaye aam ka achar;
(Tesu and Jhanjhi went to the bazaar, where they bought mango chutney,)
The boys will sing something like this :
'Mera TESU yahin Ada , Khane ko maangey dahi wada , dahi wade men mirchen Bahut ,
aagey dekho kazi houz , kazi hauz pe chali chhuri , aagey dekho fateh puri,'
Kazi Houz and Fateh Puri were famous markets in Delhi and the translation of the song means:
Please give me Tesu, my Tesu will stand here and he wants Dahi Wada ( a street food), to eat, Oh but dahi wada is very spicy, and we have Kazi Houz near by. There has been some stabbing in Kazi Houz, and we need to go to Fatehpuri.
Now technically Tesu was only a head on some sticks making him look a bit scary and he was to marry Jhanji. But I have not seen the festival being celebrated for many years now even when I visit my native place Moradabad, may be it is still celebrated in nearby small kasbahs and villages. But in last few years I have been witnessing an increase in the Halloween celebration in Metros like Bombay, Banglore and Delhi. In our apartment complex majority of kids were born in US and they celebrate Halloween with full josh. I don’t think I need to tell what Halloween is all about, what I like is the same vigor the kids go to neighborhood and scream
” Trick or Treat, Tick or Treat, give me something good to eat.”
'Mera TESU yahin Ada , Khane ko maangey dahi wada , dahi wade men mirchen Bahut ,
aagey dekho kazi houz , kazi hauz pe chali chhuri , aagey dekho fateh puri,'
Kazi Houz and Fateh Puri were famous markets in Delhi and the translation of the song means:
Please give me Tesu, my Tesu will stand here and he wants Dahi Wada ( a street food), to eat, Oh but dahi wada is very spicy, and we have Kazi Houz near by. There has been some stabbing in Kazi Houz, and we need to go to Fatehpuri.
Now technically Tesu was only a head on some sticks making him look a bit scary and he was to marry Jhanji. But I have not seen the festival being celebrated for many years now even when I visit my native place Moradabad, may be it is still celebrated in nearby small kasbahs and villages. But in last few years I have been witnessing an increase in the Halloween celebration in Metros like Bombay, Banglore and Delhi. In our apartment complex majority of kids were born in US and they celebrate Halloween with full josh. I don’t think I need to tell what Halloween is all about, what I like is the same vigor the kids go to neighborhood and scream
” Trick or Treat, Tick or Treat, give me something good to eat.”
When our religious brigade talk about dividing people on religious lines, why do not the brigade members think about reviving the great festival of Tesu and Jhanjhi.
.jpg "A Gumnam Actress Strips Nude to Protest Auto/taxi Fare Hike")
