Informative Speech Outline Essay

I. IntroductionA. Attention Getter A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he scrams a conformist. Ralph Waldo Emerson B. come in Topic To simply do several(prenominal)thing because its what everyone else is doing with break k like a shoting the reasons why theyre doing it, is conformity. You might understand the boundary conformity when used as sheeple in the political land. Those who go with the growd, just because. giveeen and Religion depend same(p) two natural opposites good and horror brought to life. C. Establish Credibility In close to things Im a non-conformist. I trust no one and nothing with disclose questioning and understading everything. I question everything fifty-fifty if it seems simple on the surface. Far too often I have found most things are not what they seem, and Religion and Holidays are no exception.D. Pre run into Central Idea The term Holiday was primarily used to reference Holy sidereal days that were far-famed and remem bered with some form of ceremony or worship. H alloween, originally a day of rememberence for the recently deceased and their booze that returned to earth on the eve of the untested year, has become something celebrated by just ab aside everyone, in legion(predicate) cultures, and across many religions, but most notibly in the US where it has become yet another commercialized event, causing people to sp shutting notes they might not otherwise give-up the ghost, to eat food that offer no nutrition at all, and in excess at that, and to go against the number one safety measure your parents drilled into your heads NEVER cause CANDY FROM STRANGERSThis has become so acceptible in modern religious performs that its been given a new name Trick-Or-Trunk. This is an event sponsored by religious elders, held on church grounds, outside in the parking lot, out of the trunks of cars and more often than not, the costumes that are worn do not promote religious justice and goodness, but the very evil the religion is supposed to protect them from. alteration to main points In station to fully understand how this seemingly innocent day of celebration, creativity and self expressionis a contradiction, we subscribe to look at several things.II. Body summary of main points / personal viewTransition to originsWhen did this vacation begin and why? Was it of pagan origins or is there something more behind Halloweens history? How should Religions view this day in general? To understand these questions further, we need to go back to the roots of Halloween.A. Origins1. Gaelic Originsa. Halloweens origins date back to the antediluvian patriarch 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, the harvest and the beginning of the dark, c aging winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. b. Celts believed that on the dark in advance the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the at rest(predicate) became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the suddenly returned to earth. c. 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 incoming(a).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. d. To commemorate the event, Druids built vast sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to regularise to each one(prenominal) others fortunes. When the c elebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to suffice protect them during the coming winter.2. Halloween & Religiona. 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 theCeltic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combine with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The beginning(a) was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the issue of the dead. The second was a day to pureness 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. b. Around AD 600, pope Boniface IV created every Saints twenty-four hours, and Pope Gregory III later moved this holiday to November 1 in an effort to give a Christian alternativ e to this pagan celebration.5 (answersingenesis.org) Christians who did not want to celebrate pagan festivals celebrated something of positive spiritual judgein this case honoring the saints and martyrs. With the overwhelming expansion of Christianity in Europe, exclusively Saints Day became the dominant holiday.6 (answersingenesis.org)On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the occidental church. Pope Gregory III (731741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. c. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Ce ltic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated identically to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and curbing 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.A geminate hundred years later, the Roman Church made November 2 All Souls Day to honor the dead. This whitethorn well have been influenced by the continued persistence of the day of the dead by the ancient Irish, Scots, and others in Europe. Standing against this, many Protestant Christians celebrate October 31 as Reformation Day in honor of reformers much(prenominal) as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others who spearheaded the Reformation in the 1500s. (answersingenesis.org) In fact,the current n ame of Halloween originates from the day before All Saints Day, which was called All Hallow Evening this name was shortened to All Hallows Eve or All Hallows Even. The name changed over time and became Halloween. (answersingenesis.org) d. It should be obvious from a Christian perspective that many modern practices of Halloween and days of the dead have evil intent (e.g., 1 Corinthians 1020).There has been considerable paganism that has been associated with Halloween over the years. Even evil acts such as vandalism, fires, destructive pranks, pretending people are something they are not by dressing up (and particularly by the glorification of sensuality, death, and demons) are in strong opposition to the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 51923). So, a word of caution must be given to Evangelicals who promote some of the dubitable modern practices of Halloween. If anything, an alternative in opposition to Halloween should be offered by Christians. Psalm 241 points out that everything be longs to the Lord. Therefore, there is no reason to let Satan have Halloween. It is not his day in the first place (answersingenesis.org)3. Trick-or Treatinga. The American Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating probably dates back to the early All Souls Day parades in England. During the festivities, paltry citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called soul cakes in return for their promise to pray for the familys dead relatives. b. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as going a-souling was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money. c. The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both(prenominal) European and Celtic roots.On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they w ould encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To reduce being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would break them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to assuage the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.Transition to disordered traditionsB. Lost traditions/beliefs Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the prox sooner of the past and the living instead of the dead. In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would somedaywith luck, by next Halloweenbe married. 1. In 18th-century Ireland, a matchmaking cook might exhaust a ring in her mashed potatoes on Halloween night, hoping to bring true love to the diner who found it. 2. In Scotland, fortune-tellers recommended that an eligible young woman name a hazelnut for each of her sui tors and and so toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burned to ashes rather than popping or exploding, the story went, represented the girls future husband. (In some versions of this legend, confusingly, the opposite was true The nut that burned away symbolized a love that would not last.) 3. other tale had it that if a young woman ate a sugary concoction made out of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night she would dream about her future husband.4. According to some accounts, the Halloween supper has featured a roast fowl or even meat, but as the day before a Holy Day of Obligation in the Catholic Church, Halloween has traditionally been a day of moderation from meat. The dishes most associated with Halloween in Irelandcolcannon, champ, and boxtyare all made from root vegetables and earthy harvests such as potatoes and cabbage. protagonist is mashed potatoes, frequently with leeks, and served with a pool of melted butter in the top. Colcannon is p otatoes and cabbage. Boxty is mashed potatoes mixed with grated raw potatoes, onion, and cabbage, which are then boiled, cut into portions and fried. (encyclopedia.com) 5. These traditional foods are emblematic of Halloween for many in Ireland. Sometimes, portions were left out for the fairies. In an obligate published in 1958, K. M. Harris quotes a man who recalls his mother putting salt on the head of each child to prevent them from being taken away by the wee people on Halloween. He also recounts her placing a thimble-full of salt on each plate.If the salt fell down that person would stall in the next cardinal months. These beliefs indicate the continued association of food with the supernatural, and perhaps echo the old new years day of Samhain in the idea that what happens on this night affects the next twelve months. (encyclopedia.com) C. CulturalSimilarities (all from answersingenesis.org) Although many affirm that Samhain was the origin of modern-day Halloween, it is sig nificant to note how many cultures throughout the world have celebrated a day of the dead (often with sacrifices), occurring at the end of summer and fall. There seem to be too many parallels to call these similar celebrations a coincidence. 1. For example, in the Americas there is the Mexican Day of the Dead (El Da de los Muertos) that goes back to the ancient festival of the dead celebrated by Aztecs and the more-ancient Olmec.This was probably where the Guatemalans got their Day of the Dead. 2. Brazilians also celebrate Finados (Day of the Dead). Bolivia has the Day of the Skulls (Da de los Natitas).7 3. In Asia, there are similar festivals. For example, the Chinese celebrated the Ghost Festival, which was a day to pay homage to dead ancestors. The Japanese celebrated something similar called O-bon or merely Bon. Even Vietnam has a variant of the Ghost Festival called Tet Trung Nguyen. In Korea, there is Chuseok or Hankawi, in which deceased ancestors are ritualized.In Nepal, th ere is the cow pilgrimage called Gia Jatra to honor the recently deceased. In the Philippines, there is the Day of the Dead (Araw ng mga Patay), where tombs are cleaned and repainted. The list goes on and on (see reference 5). 4. The one-year Jewish holiday of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is celebrated in the fall, usually September or October.8 and it is clear different in purpose. It is not in honor of the dead. Rather, it deals with soul searching, repentance, and is a time of with child(p) sacrifice for the sins of the people (Leviticus 232728). So, there is some cross over, but God instituted this date.Transition to Halloween in AmericaD. Halloween in America1. Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial in the raw 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 disti nctly 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 others fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities alsofeatured 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 everyplace in the country.2. In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, specially the millions of Irish fleeing Irelands potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became todays trick-or-treat tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name o r appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.3. 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 lively 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.4. By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but 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 com munities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed primarily at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town polite 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 compete on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the countrys secondlargest commercial holiday.III. deductionSummarize main points, purpose and view.Works Cited chronicle of Halloween. History.com. A&E Television Networks, n .d. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. Hodge, Bodie. Halloween History and the Bible. Answers in Genesis. Network Solutions, LLC, 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. mountain range 1 D4doddy, Digimaree. Samhain Bonfire. Digital image. Ancient Samhain Ritual. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. . Image 2 Ritual De Samhain (NOCHE DE DIFUNTOS CELTA). Digital image. Cosas De Meiga (Libreria Escuela Tarot). Meiga, 26 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. .