African peoples have always had festivals and celebrations at the times of sowing and harvest. Although these celebrations vary, most include an offering of food to the gods or spirits and the sacrifice of an animal. Most begin with a solemn ceremony of thanksgiving and end with feasting and dancing to the sound of beating drums.
The Southwest Africa, some of the newly harvested grain is made into porridge. The head of the family takes some of the porridge, dips it into melted fat and offers it to the Spirits of the East and West. In this way, thanks are given to the spirits for having insured a plentiful harvest.
The Ashanti tribe of West Africa celebrate the harvest with a first fruits festival called the “Festival of Yams.” Since the yam forms the staple of their diet, a good yam is essential for survival. The festival consists of two days of ceremonies in which the priests dance to the beat of the drums and rattles. The ceremonies conclude with the sacrifice of a sheep. The gods are offered yams and only then can the people partake of the newly harvested yams.
The Yoruba, another West African tribe, have an annual ritual of the ancestors of which the yam festival is a part. Masqueraders, wearing long robes and masks covering their faces, dance in the street and visit the homes of those who have recently died. The new yams are offered to the spirits before the people can eat them. All these festivals take place at the end of October.
Halloween
October 31
Halloween is a festive celebration in Ireland, England, Scotland, and the United States. The current customs of Halloween can be traced back to the traditional observances of Halloween in Ireland. Our celebration of Halloween did not come about until the Irish immigration of the 1840’s. In 1880, Halloween became a U.S. holiday.
The colors of Halloween, orange and black, are symbolic of its position as a harvest festival, the Festival of Samhain—Lord of the Dead, and as a time of fear when the souls of the dead were everywhere. Orange represents the harvest; the ripened fruits, vegetables, and grains. Black in most countries is the color of death.
From the Scotch and Irish we derive our customary Halloween foods. Doughnuts, gingerbread, pumpkin pie, cider, popcorn, apples and nuts are eaten at Halloween parties. “Nuts and apples were not only a part of the feast. They were also used for telling fortunes on this magical night when charms, spells, and ways of finding out the future were believed to be most successful.”
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Games were played using nuts and apples to make predictions about whom a boy or girl would marry; which of two sweethearts a girl should choose; how happy a couple would be; or the length of one’s life.
The Jack-O-Lantern originates from imaginative stories told by people long ago that thought Jack-O-Lanterns were the souls of sinners condemned to walk the earth until the end of time. Scottish children hollowed out the largest turnips from the harvest and put candles inside to scare away evil spirits. lrish children used turnips or potatos and in some parts of England, large beets were hollowed out. It was not until the Scotch and lrish came to the United States that pumpkins came into favor.