by Ramy Roger Ashy

Created on: January 27, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

It is the Fourth of December, when the Syrian Christians celebrate the famous Feast, which is called "Halloween". Both Eastern and Western peoples celebrate this occasion but apparently with different cultures and origins. Still, so many similarities can be linked between the two Halloweens.

The origin of the Syrian Halloween is basically related to the life story of a young lady called Barbara, who is declared as a Saint later on in the Syrian Church. The little lady was born in Nicomedea city (Turkey nowadays) from pagan parents. Diosircorus, her father, was a rich man who spent lots of money to educate his daughter. He trapped her in an immune fort and surrounded her by pagans to spend all her time adoring those statues. But, the story begins when the girl finds out about Jesus Christ and she decides to adore him/ to follow Christianity. When the father knows about this fact, he decides to hand over his only daughter to the king, who is also a pagan and the girl is sentenced to death buy cutting her neck. Later on, the lady is declared as a martyr for Christianity and the Eastern Church in Syria and Lebanon dedicate the 4th of December to commemorate her.

So many different stories can be narrated about the young lady, which enrich the spirit of the Syrian Halloween. One story says that when Barbara converted into Christianity, she ran away trying to escape from the ire of her father so she disguised in weird costumes. And that's why kids go into the streets wearing funny and weird clothes.

Another story says that when she fled from the town; she hid herself and took the wheat fields as a shelter and that is why people eat wheat on that day.

Children, normally, on the Halloween evening (3rd of December) dress up in a funny way, and go into the streets singing and visiting friends at homes. They also like to distribute candies for people they meet during their parades.

On the other hand, the Western Halloween is traced back to the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland. The summer officially ends on October 31 and people celebrate the holiday. This Holiday is called the "Samhain" which is the Celtic New Year.
On that day, people believe that all disembodied spirits of all those who passed away throughout the proceeding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. In order to keep themselves preserved from the possession of these spirits, people extinguish all the fires in their homes so they can make the place cold and the spirits won't

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