Halloween has long been one of my favourite holidays. Possibly because it requires no cooking, no visiting, no gifts – just dressing up in fun costumes, decorating pumpkins, and collecting goodies. What could be better?
As a mom, I loved creating Halloween costumes for my son – everything from a Crayola crayon to a Pilgrim to A Christmas Carol’s Jacob Marley. When else could you legally wrap your kid up in chains and tie his mouth shut???? (It was actually a phenomenal costume!) And there were a few awesome ghosts and fearsome pirates thrown in there as well.
But far from today’s parades of little bunnies and ballerinas, Halloween has a long, storied, and often eerie history, incorporating ancient traditions from a variety of cultures.
A Harvest Festival
It all started with the Celts about 2000 years ago and the celebration of Samhain (pronounced Sow-in). Samhain, a three-day fire festival, celebrated the end of the summer and harvest and the beginning of the dark half of the year. It was a time when the Celts believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead thinned, permitting ghosts to return to earth. The presence of these ghosts helped the Druids (the Celtic priests) make prophecies about the coming year.
The celebrations of Samhain included huge bonfires, the burning of crops, and animal sacrifices to the Celtic gods. Everyone participated, dressed in costumes often made of animal skins.
With the arrival of Christianity to Ireland, new celebrations were blended with old. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III moved the festival of All Saint’s from May to November 1. The night before, called All Hallow’s Eve and the following day, All Soul’s Day, coincided perfectly, in both timing and sentiment, with Samhain. Following the ancient traditions, people dressed up in costumes and celebrated with bonfires commemorating the saints and martyrs of the Church.
A Blend of Rituals
Long before the pentagram was associated with the devil and witchcraft, it was an ancient Celtic symbol of fertility. When the apple is halved, the seeds form a pentagram shape. Couples bobbed for apples and if one of them caught one, they would have a child during the coming year.
Barmbrack is a traditional bread-type cake baked at Halloween. A small piece of cloth, a ring and a coin and placed into the batter. When the bread it eaten, the person who gets the slice with the rag will have a dubious financial year ahead. The one who gets the ring can anticipate new love or continued happiness. The person who received the slice with the coin and expect financial success in the year ahead.
In Medieval England, people, especially children, would dress up and visit the houses of wealthy families. For a coin or some food, they would promise to pray for the souls of the deceased members of the family. This tradition, called “souling” along with “guising”, morphed into the modern version of “trick or treat”. When “guising”, costumed children knocked on doors to sing a song or tell a joke or story in return for a treat – usually a piece of fruit or a coin.
The Jack O’Lantern originated with the Legend of Stingy Jack in Ireland. Doomed to walk to the earth for eternity, he used a candle in a turnip to light his way. Originally, carved turnips or gourds were used. When the Irish immigrated to America, they discovered that pumpkins were much better suited to carve and hold a candle.
A Multi-Billion Dollar Business
Today, consumers spend more than $6 billion worldwide to celebrate Halloween. Comercially, it is second only to Christmas. So as you purchase that bag of chocolate bars (you know that every kid wants to go to the house that gives out chocolate bars!), carve your pumpkins, and head out in search of the perfect costume, know that you are continuing in a millenials’ old celebration of light and darkness, life and death, good and evil.
Happy Halloween!