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About The Prospector (Helena, Mont.) 1916-2015 | View This Issue
The Prospector (Helena, Mont.), 20 Oct. 2005, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/TheProspector/2005-10-20/ed-1/seq-4/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
The Prospector www.carroll.edu Celebrating Halloween in Helena By Linsey Lindgren Staff Writer Halloween means different things to different people. Some see it as a night to have fun and other see it as sacrilegious. Whatever your views are, here is short history on Halloween and what Helena and the surrounding area have to offer for those who want to are looking to have fun October 31. HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN Halloween has been labeled as sacrilegious and bad by the church for years. According to The Christ Unlimited Ministries, the Roman calendar day begins at midnight. The evening of October 31 was the eve before the hallowed day, and so Halloween, or All Soul's Eve, was kept throughout the ancient pagan world. All Hallows Eve is the night before All Hallows' (or All Saints') Day, was a holy day in the Roman Catholic Church, Episcopal Church, the Church of England, and the Greek Orthodox Church. This festival honors all martyrs, known and unknown, who have died for the church. During the time of Constantine, these two holidays were merged in an attempt to Christianize the hea thens. The church could not pre vent these heathen practices, so they thought \taming\' them would be the answer. They were, of course, not to worship their gods on the church's \All Saints’ Day.” However, soon the evil overrode the good, and hence we still honor these heathen practices by cele brating Halloween. Another view of how the Halloween tradition made it to the Americas is suggested by the Watchman Fellowship, Inc. It explains that in 1848, millions of Irish immigrants poured into America as a result of the potato famine. With this sudden influx of Celtic people, the holiday of Druidism found its new home on alien shores. These people called Halloween Oidche Shamhna ('Night of Samhain'), as their ancestors had, and kept the tradi tional observances. There are various activities tra ditional to Halloween that one may want to take part in, but does any one know where they came from? The idea behind ducking, dook- ing, or bobbing for apples seems to have been that snatching a bite from the apple enables the person to grasp good fortune. Unmarried people would attempt to take a bite out of an apple bobbing in a pail of water, or suspended on a string. The first person to do so was believed to be the next to marry. Similarly, peeling an apple and throwing the peel over one's shoul der was supposed to reveal the ini tial of one's future spouse. Samhain (the Irish version of Halloween) is a time for getting rid of weakness. Pagans used to slaughter weak animals which were unlikely to survive the win ter. A common ritual calls for writing down weaknesses on a piece of paper or parchment, and tossing it into the fire. There used to be a custom of placing a stone in the hot ashes of the bonfire. If in the morning a person found that the stone had been removed or had cracked, it was a sign of bad fortune. Nuts have been used for divination: whether they burned quietly or exploded indicated good or bad luck. One way to look for omens of death was for people to visit churchyards. The spirits of those who were going to die during the coming year were thought to walk around the churchyard during this night. HALLOWEEN ON CAMPUS Guad Hall will have their annu al Trick or Treating on Halloween night. Each floor will decorate to create a fun atmosphere for the treaters. Patrick Harris, Student Activities Director, has bought $2000 dollars worth of candy for the event. Usually there are about 500 visitors, however, last year there were over 1000. CELEBRATING IN AND ______ AROUND HELENA The haunted com maze just out side of Townsend is back again this year. It will open Friday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29 it opens at noon, and on Halloween it will open at 5 p.m. The haunt ing is done by Search and Rescue, Bozeman Senior High wrestling club, color guard, and marching band who all receive $1 dollar of each ticket sold. Tickets are $7 for individuals unless bringing food donations then they receive a dis count. Also groups of 15 or more receive a discount. The maze is approximately 40 miles from Helena, but is said to be well worth it! For more information call the com maze at 226-5203 or 439-9347. Some of the local bars will be having costume contest with cash and clothing prizes. The Rialto says that this is a new thing for them, but they hope to get things started around 11 p.m. on Saturday, October 29. If you’d rather avoid the ghosts and ghouls and instead spend the night relaxing, some movies to rent could be: Halloween, The Adams Family, Beetle Juice, Sleepy Hollow, Nightmare on Elm Street, House on Haunted Hill, Practical Magic, Hocus Pocus, or Dracula. Get a friend it have some W lfOYER F U M l □ season passes for the price of one! College students can buy t for VG9 [$134.50 each]!! Offer ENDS November 30. Both buyers must be full-time students at Carroll College or Helena College of Technology. eason passes PONUSil Great Divide Season Pass Holders may purchase full-day lift tickets for the half-day rate at all Montana ski areasl n □ 0 1 ? . f i ß E A T P l V i P E M O M T A M A - C O M Thursday, October 20, 2005 VOLUME 89, NO. 2
