For me, a debate on "Halloween vs. Castanyada "is quite fruitless and notes that it is not known and no tradition or the other. In both cases these funeral rites held since the Iron Age, and probably have the same slope Celtic Indo-European origin. Remember that Catalunya was inhabited by proto-Celtic populations in the fields of urns, and that the funeral party was certainly one of the most important and cultural characteristics of this family. In the case of Catalonia, the party lost the crucial nature of Celtic culture, as Samhain marked end and beginning of the year. For the feast of the Castanyada, this importance has been lost, but remains one of the traditional dates delcalendario. Both parties treat the memory of the deceased becoming as natural as possible, but apparently the Catalan population complains of the lack of seriousness of Halloween, and that is a symptom of globalization and the invasion of American culture of fast food and action movies. If someone says such a thing, "I do not know the origin of Halloween, which takes place in Europe, dating back to the Iron Age: Samhain. Halloween is simply a continuation of this ancient and would pass through a filter holding a little ironic, but definitely present and practical. Personally, I love Halloween just for the naturalness that gives death stripping of the severity Christian to believe anything that should characterize this festival. I firmly believe that were it not for the intervention of the popes of Rome at the time, the feast of the Tots Sants Castanyada and have ended up being very similar to Halloween, in the case had been maintained.
But we complain that children do not want to celebrate the Castanyada, it is boring and will not stimulate the imagination. Well, Halloween, in a well designed, can stimulate children's interest in the fall and the old parties. Eating chestnuts roasted on a bonfire in the center of town, sharing panellets, scarecrow dress up and play trick or treating should not any complication. In fact there are two points I should mention before giving my article ended: there are two celebrations in Catalonia, dating back many centuries, according to which the dead come the night of October 31 to visit the living, and if panellets or fruits were not receiving them, are dedicated to frighten sleepers. That coincides with the tradition of "trick or treat" "trick or treat, where children dressed up, going door to door looking for candy in exchange for left alone to live and get rid of a prank. And second, dated and signed in the presence of empty and decorated gourds at that time in the Ripollès.
So before we criticize so fervently Halloween party in front of the version theoretically "pure" the Castanyada and Tots Sants, it is worth reflecting on two things: that in fact a reformulation Castanyada Christian, and the party as we came up with the old, and that if we do not get the batteries will no longer be held in a dynamic and be as dead as a feast of Candlemas, and what is more important, stay rigid while turning the wheel of the year or never stop celebrating nature with joy?
So before we criticize so fervently Halloween party in front of the version theoretically "pure" the Castanyada and Tots Sants, it is worth reflecting on two things: that in fact a reformulation Castanyada Christian, and the party as we came up with the old, and that if we do not get the batteries will no longer be held in a dynamic and be as dead as a feast of Candlemas, and what is more important, stay rigid while turning the wheel of the year or never stop celebrating nature with joy?
The first official witness the ritual celebration of the Castanyada accepted in Catalonia once Christianized, dates from 1033, when the saw assembly
The food in this case consists of nuts, dried fruits and desserts with it. The nuts and chestnuts are an indicator of the upcoming absence of fresh fruit, and are closely related to the dead. Panellets-or even in other parts of the bones of Saint-candy made with sweet potatoes, almonds and pine nuts, were the "bread" which were offered to the dead and the family ate that night, a night in which it was important stay awake to remember with joy to those who are not. That night was lit in the home or in the center of town, a fire that served to guide the spirits of the dead to visit their relatives live, and to toast the nuts and fruits that were eaten at the height of autumn. As corresponding May 1, Oct. 31 marks the end of all life agricultural, livestock are kept and now can only come the cold, so that night is the beginning of a dark half of the year, and as such should be celebrated with joy, perhaps getting rid of this sad and tragic tone with which permeated the Christian tradition since the rapture of the peoples of Europe.