The lady in the street says it with conviction: “What a mess the other day for Aulin!”. Butit is not his fault that he exchanged the name of an anti-inflammatory for the celebration of Halloween. Yes, because this party is not ours at all. It’s an old tradition in Usa that in the recent decades has been wide spread all over the world, especially to make a good business. A day with masquerades, shots, dancing parties and lots of pumpkinsl. In short, an inappropriate carnival in advance.
Yet it is a feast of ancient origins and deep meanings, which dates back to the Celtic peoples. The name comes from the English “All Hollows Eve”, which means just “the eve of All Saints’, the same feast that we always celebrate! And in some cases with amazing similarities with the northern European traditions, as well Gea Deleonardis demonstrated in a research published on his blog: “Having established that this party apparently imported from the USA actually has ancient European roots – says-and has many similarities with the old Lucan traditions (eg begging in Montalbano Jonico, the use of carved pumpkins as a kind of human faces as lanterns Montescaglioso and the belief that at this time thins the boundary between the living and the dead across the region), I have said that maybe it’s time to gather in a meticulous, almost “scientific” testimony of how they celebrated it in Matera and in some towns of the province, and what you should do (or not do) on 1 and 2 November, and also what is believed to happen “.
So let’s forget the pumpkins, especially the empty ones, since there are too many around and not only at this time … And maybe we dedicate at least a thought to our loved ones who are gone, as my dear grandmother Angela. I wonder what he would think of it, “Aluin? What does it mean? “. Nothing my dear, forget about it. This year I’ll come to find you as always, I’ll give you a kiss and then I’ll let you rest in peace.
But next year we’ll have to do again with the pumpkins … as if that was not enough every day!
