Halloween: Witches, pumpunkins and parties

'Should Halloween be imported to and celebrated in Italy or not?'
Well, I looked for information about Halloween and I found out something interesting: it is not only an anglo-saxon tradition, but somehow an Italian one as Halloween's roots belong to a very ancient and pagan world not only Celtic but also Roman. Actually, in the same period in which people celebrate now Halloween (31st of October), the Romans celebrated Pomona - a Roman goddess symbolized by an apple- and Feralia, that was believed to be the day for the passing of deads from the netherworld to earth.

Those who think that Halloween is just an occasion to disguise themselves as ghosts, withches and monsters are wrong. Halloween is linked to the Christian tradition that celebrates All Saints' Day on the 1 of November. Actually, the word 'Halloween' has its own origins in the 'All-hallow-event' which 'was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions' (Wikipedia). The Catholic tradition of the 1 of November borne in order to weaken and substitute the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. In this case, both Celtic and Christian Catholic holidays had as their aim the cult of deads.

The adoption of Halloween in the Italian society means not only an increase in economic exchanges but also a beginning to the acceptance of foreign elements. Globalization pushes towards a multicultural sociaty, thus a society in which new cultural elements become part of the host culture. Therefore an accepting attitude, at least for what does not imply violent and aggressive practices, seems to be the former step towards a peaceful and integrating society. If we think better we can see that Italians have been immigrants so they've imported their habits and their holidays abroad... All the 'Little Italies' around the world are an example of it! So, why shouldn’t we accept others' holidays and traditions?
And the same is for Catholicism which sometimes has spread against the will of the local population.

Those sceptic Catholics, like the Bishop of Como, who think we should be careful about this holiday which may keep us away from our true traditions because it represents the evil, forget that Christian-Cathilic religion often tells us about devils, bad spirits, exorcisms that deal with the evil side of the creation. Moreover I think that people can understand the meaning of their beliefs even if they have fun.

Finally, if Halloween is a way to stay and celebrate with your friends and family, why should we say it's a bad thing? Let’s accept Halloween so to have fun and stay good!