(Before the party: Marta, Mariona, Joan and Marc at the Spitz, the famous jazz bar in Spitafielads market, wearing fangs)On saturday we're going to a Halloween party in one of London's spookiest venues in the cobbled streets of Jack The Ripper territory for a big old Halloween knees up. We'll be a bunch of us: Sarita, Nikos, Mariona, Marc, Ali and all is organised by Sureyya.
The pace is an an entire pub decorated especially for the event. We are told to wear a costume, and apparently there will be prizes for the best and worst costumes.
What does halloween mean? Where it comes from? Here it goes some briefing:
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
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