THE STORY OF HALLOWEEN

Halloween is one of the oldest holidays with origins dating back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain which meant (summer’s end) on October 31st. This represented the end of the summer and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, the only season the Celts recognized. The Celts (of what is now Ireland), the United Kingdom and Northern France celebrated their New Year on November 1st. The Celtic people believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living. Naturally, the still living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31st, the cooking fires in the homes would be extinguished, to make them cold and undesirable. They built huge bonfires and dressed in ghoulish costumes and masks, typically consisting of animal’s heads and skins and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, to fool ghosts into thinking they were other spirits. But whether the people scared away the spirits or fooled them into thinking the people were also demons, the whole purpose was to “treat” the spirits so they would not “trick” you. In order to protect their cows from ghosts, farmers hung bells on their necks that were blessed by the Druid or Celtic priests. This tradition has been carried on in farms today (it is not because cows need to be heard as they approach). When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

During the first century the Romans conquered the majority of Celtic territory. They brought with them many of their festivals and customs. In the course of the four hundred years they ruled Celtic land, Samhain was assimilated with some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as the festival know as Pomona Day, named for their goddess of the fruits and gardens. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which our modern tradition of “bobbing for apples” may have come from. Feralia was another festival in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. After hundreds of years of Roman rule the customs of the Celtic’s Samhain festival, Feralia and the Roman Pomona Day mixed becoming one major fall holiday.

The next influence came with the spread of the new Christian religion throughout Europe and Great Britain. The Roman Catholic Church would make November 1st a church holiday to honor all saints. This day was called All Saints Day, Hallowmas, or All Hallows. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. Years later the Church would make November 2nd All Soul’s Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated with big bonfires, parades, and people dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. Over the years the customs from all these holidays mixed. October 31st became known as the All Hallow Even, eventually All Hallow’s Eve, Hallowe’en and the current Halloween.

The Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences, Pomona Day’s apples, the Festival of Samhain’s black cats, magic spells, charms, evil spirits and death, and the ghosts, skeletons and the skulls from All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day.

The carving of a Jack-O-Lantern is thought to come from an old Irish folklore about a drunkard named Jack. After Jack died, he was not allowed to enter heaven because of his evil ways and the devil would not let him enter Hell due to all the tricks he had played on him. Satan gave Jack a glowing piece of coal and placed it inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer. Jack used this to light his way through the frigid darkness as he tried to find a place to rest his soul. Thus the “Jack’s Lantern” came to be. When the immigrants came to America, they found pumpkins made better Jack-O-Lanterns than turnips.

Trick or Treating is thought to have come from the English people when they celebrated the religious festivals of All Saint’s Day. During the Festival poor would beg for food and would give pastries called “soul cakes”. In return they would pray for the souls of the relatives of the rich people.

Today, Halloween is more popular than ever. Whereas before children and adults only dressed up in more traditional costumes such as ghosts, goblins, vampires, monsters, and witches. Today’s children and adults have more options and not only opt for those costumes but also costumes that represent society’s current fads. Today’s costumes represent cartoon characters, rock stars, TV and movie characters, politicians, or just some silly created look.