Sunday, October 30, 2005
Halouwiya Halou
In the old days of Egypt, during Ramadan, the children would go around the town, knocking on the doors of their neighborhoods. When the door to a home would open, the children would proclaim "Halouwiya halou" (pronounced Hel-oo-way-uh HEL-oo) and would be given sweets. Karim doesn't know the meaning of the words, but it does have some reference to sweets (called halwayet, or something of that nature).
The word "Halloween" that we know here in America seems to come from "All Hallow's Eve", a catholic celebration of the saints (evidently--I've never been a catholic, so I'm assuming.) From what I've read of our present holidays, Christmas included, the origins of most of them come from the Christianization of "pagan" practices (of which, at the time, Islam would have been considered). I would love to venture a guess, and those of you who might know the truth can set me straight, that "All Hallow's Eve" is the church's version of "Halouwiya Halou". The word halou sounds a lot like "hallow" (or sacred/sainted), just as the word Eostere, which is a "pagan" fertility celebration, sounds like "Easter", thus the fertility symbol of the egg. I am guessing that this might be the origin of "trick-or-treating" among children in the States. (The pumpkins and such are "borrowed" from other practices, and are meant to ward off evil spirits as it is supposed to be the night of the dead.) This is only a guess, but it sounds convincing enough to me. Nevermind the fact that the dates for Ramadan change every year and Halloween only coincides with it a couple of times in twenty-five years.
I would love to know your opinions, and if you actually know the origin of this tradition (Halouwiya Halou) please let me know.
