The Origin of Halloween The origin of modern Halloween can be traced back to samhain, a Celtic festival celebrating the beginning of the dark half year. At that time, it was generally believed that the fields between the living and the dead overlapped and ghosts could meet frequently.
At 60 1 year. In order to help him drive to northern Europe for Christianization, Pope Gregory I instructed missionaries not to stop pagan celebrations, but to Christianize.
Therefore, with the passage of time, samhain's celebration has become a day for all souls and all Halloween, when talking with the dead is considered as an appropriate religion. All hallowed days are also called all hallowed days, and the night before becomes all hallowed nights, or "Halloween".
Christian ghosts not only adhere to pagan beliefs about the souls of the dead, but also become a part of early church practice.
Pope Gregory I himself suggested that people should attend mass for ghosts when they see them. This view holds that the dead may need the help of the living to go to heaven.
In the Middle Ages, the belief that the soul was trapped in purgatory led the church to sell indulgence more and more-paying the church to alleviate the punishment of sin. The widespread belief in ghosts makes indulgent trading a profitable practice for the church.
It was this belief that led to the Reformation led by German theologian Martin Luther, which divided Christianity into Protestantism and Catholicism. In fact, Luther nailed the "95 Thesis" at All Saints' Church in Vittenburg on June1517+1October 3 1, which to a great extent condoned the trafficking.
Subsequently, ghosts were recognized as "Catholic superstitions" in Protestant countries.
However, the existence of ghosts and people is increasingly turning to science to deal with this problem. In the19th century, idealism, a new movement claiming that the dead can talk to the living, quickly became the mainstream, characterized by popular technologies such as deification, perineum plate and psychological photography.
Although the cultural importance of idealism gradually disappeared after World War I, we can find a lot of ghost catchers today. They often try to prove the existence of ghosts with science and technology. "KDSP" is a vast and vast ghost world "KDSP", and these beliefs are not only a part of the Christian world. Although not all societies have the concept of "ghost", most societies do. For example, in Taiwan Province province, about 90% people reported seeing ghosts.
And many Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, China and Viet Nam, and Taiwan Province Province celebrate Ghost Moon, including a central Ghost Festival. People believe that ghosts can roam freely around the world. These festivals and beliefs are often related to Buddhist stories in the Ula Benjing. The Buddha taught a young priest how to help his mother who was regarded as a "hungry ghost". Ghosts in Taiwan Province Province are regarded as "friendly" or "unfriendly". "Friendly" ghosts are usually grandparents or family members, who are welcomed home during Halloween. "unfriendly" ghosts are those angry or "hungry" ghosts that haunt the living.
The role of ghosts in our lives As a scholar who has studied and taught ghost stories for many years, I found that ghosts are haunted for good reasons. These may include unsolved murders, lack of proper funerals, forced suicides, preventable tragedies and other moral corruption.
In this sense, people often find ghosts seeking justice from outside the grave. They can make such demands to individuals and to the whole society. For example, in the United States, African-American slaves and murdered Native Americans were witnessed. Elizabeth Tucker, a scholar, introduced in detail many reported sightings on university campuses, which were often associated with the dirty side of the campus in the past.
Halloween ghost dance. (Chris Jepsen/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND) In this way, ghosts reveal the dark side of morality. Their testimony often reminds us that morality and morality transcend our lives, and moral mistakes will bring a heavy mental burden.
However, ghost stories are full of hope. When they hint at life after death, they provide an opportunity to contact those who have passed away, so they also provide an opportunity for redemption-a way to make up for past mistakes.
This Halloween, with screams and boos, you may want to spend a few minutes appreciating the role ghosts played in our haunted past and how they guided us to live a moral and ethical life.
Tok Thompson, Associate Professor, Dornsif College of Literature, Arts and Science, University of Southern California.
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