tLoE XXII: 'Tis the Season to be Spooky!

Welcome, Welcome one and all, to this week's blog on the Land of Equestria, and a very special post it is!

With Halloween just around the Corner, it's time to analyze Equestria's Equivalent Holiday, Nightmare night!

Now, first off, we'll need a comparison of a the Holidays. Now our Modern Halloween is a descendent of a European holiday in which people donned disguises in order to hide from spirits a few centuries ago. Similarly, around 1,000 years prior to modern Equestria, the Mythos of Nightmare moon became the stuff of legend, and ponies began wearing disguises in order to hide from her. They also came up with the idea of offering up food to her in order to draw her away from the people. Jump ahead to modern Equestria and, due to a similar beginning, it resulted in a similar holiday, in which dressing up is still common (although more for traditional and celebratory reasons than a functional purpose), and the food sacrifice has been replaced by handing out candies, a portion of which is "offered up". All around, they appear nearly identical to each other due to such a highly reminiscent start. In both, scaring is celebrated and practiced, and can be very fun when done correctly in either one!

But what of the differences? What sets their holiday apart from our equivalent? Well the first and most evident note would of course be the candy sacrifice. Also, children aren't commonly told the lore behind the holiday on Earth, whereas the telling of the tale of Nightmare Moon appears to be something of a Nightmare Night tradition. Another major difference lies in the actual Festival that the Equestrians hold. Now there are numerous Halloween festivals of course, but it isn't considered an essential part of the celebration, such as dressing up and scaring are. Finally, the Equestrians initially dressed up to hide from what would turn out to be a misunderstanding of a very real entity, so when said entity appeared, the entire celebration was called into question, nearly deemed insulting, and just narrowly avoided being completely banned from Equestria by said entity. Halloween however is an ever-evolving holiday with no entity to challenge it, and although Nightmare night did survive, that key power held by a real entity over the fate of the holiday really seals the difference between the two.

And there you have it folks, the major likenesses and differences of Nightmare Night and Halloween! If you think I missed anything, be sure to leave a comment, and I may just add it in!

Too Long for you? Here's the main points!

-Happy Halloween/Nightmare Night everyone!
-Both Holidays Involve Dressing up in a disguise to hide from the unnatural.
-both Holidays involve the passing out of candies and a similar old lore
-Nightmare night Involves "Sacrificing" a portion of food or candy, Halloween does not
-The nightmare night Festival is a key aspect of the celebration, not so in it's Earth counterpart.
-Halloween does not fall under the control of a single, tangible entity, and cannot be so easily influenced, as Nightmare Night can.

Well, That's all for this time around, and I wish everyone a Happy Halloween, and a Happy Nightmare Night! (And remember: If any kid comes to your door and does the nightmare night chant, give them twice as much candy ).

See you next time! I'm Ironsmith, Invent on!