10/31/2024
Happy Halloween! Here are some insights into how the holiday started...
Halloween History and Customs by Dr. Joan Gorski
Most cultures and all the major religions of the world have beliefs about an afterlife, and they set aside a day to honor or remember the dead. The origins of Halloween are tied to those beliefs and practices. The roots of the holiday, as it is understood today in Western cultures, began more than 2,000 years ago among Celtic people. As the days became cooler and darker every Autumn, the Celts had rituals for the onset of Winter when the crops and flowers died. The ancient Celts believed that a Sun deity made the crops grow and that each year that deity was attacked and held prisoner for 6 months by an evil power called Samhain. Samhain brought
the cold and darkness of winter days. On October 31, Celtic priests, called Druids held a New Year’s ceremony to mark the weakening Sun god by lighting a bonfire in hopes that its heat, like the Sun, would create fear in Samhain. The priests thanked the Sun god for the last good harvest and at midnight asked Samhain to let
brightness and warmth return to Earth. When the Romans conquered Celtic lands, they added to the Celtic festival two festivals of their own called Feralia and Pomona Day. Feralia honored the dead and Pomona Day was an apple
festival marking a day of thanks for a good harvest. The Catholic Church contributed to these festivals by fusing these festivals to the already existing holidays to honor the dead – All Saint’s and All Soul’s Day. The name “Halloween” comes from the “Eve of all that is holy” or “All Hallow’s Eve” marking the day before All Saint’s and then All Soul’s Day. When people came to the new world, they brought their beliefs with them. As settlers moved west, they celebrated Halloween with corn-popping parties, taffy pulls and hay rides. Farmers called this Snap Apple Night and tied it to the harvest. Irish settlers brought their customs with them adding to these celebrations: trick-or-treating, carving gourds and wearing costumes.
Costumes & Trick or Treating
In Ireland, it was believed that on certain nights of the year, the veil separating heaven and hell became thin, and souls could return to earth to visit their homes and families. Not all families were happy for bad relatives to return, however. Several villages sought to find the most innocent & pure members of the town to visit their homes in hopes that their innocence would
drive away evil relatives. Interestingly, it was decided that only children were that pure.
Children were dressed as their patron saints and sent door to door. Sending people door to
door was a practice that was known to them from their druidic heritage in the celebration of
“Muck Olla” – an old druidic priest people honored by giving handouts to begging poor people at their doors. Christmas Caroling is also rooted in this heritage.
Eventually, the children began to dress up like dead ancestors (ghosts) to trick those who answered the door. This prank also eventually led to the custom of offering the children something sweet in the hopes of confirming that the person at the door was truly a child rather than an evil dead ancestor. It could be a trick until the child took the treat –only then could they be sure it was a child.
Carving Gourds
An old Irish legend tells of a man named Jack who wandered the earth after missing the call by God to return to heaven after All Saint’s and All Soul’s Day. One dark night, Jack wandered into a farmer’s field but could not see due to the clouds that covered the moon. He hollowed out a gourd and found a lantern in the farmer’s barn. Each year, he wanders the earth in search of a pure Christian house to serve as a portal back to heaven. Villagers began to carve gourds to set in their windows or place on the steps of their homes to show Jack that theirs was a pure Christian home where he could find an entrance back to heaven. Americans contributed to this
practice by sending the seeds of our gourds (pumpkins) back to Ireland with immigrants who returned home to visit family. These practices, along with Christmas celebrations, were banned by the Puritan Parliament in 1647, but both holidays were revived by immigrants in the 19th century. The Motion picture industry fueled the holiday’s reputation as a scary time by releasing horror films at this time of year. A new backlash against Halloween began in the 1980’s, in part when claims that it was “the devil’s night” began to surface and urban legends about poisons and razor blades in treats spread in popular lore. This recently maligned holiday, however, actually has a rich and long tradition rooted in a sacred time to remember and honor the dead.
