Welcome To The Celtic New Year:
Origins of Halloween
Welcome to the Celtic New Year! Traditionally this was the time to celebrate the end of the harvest season as well as the end of summer. The festival is known as Samhain and came to life within the Gaelic and Brythonic cultures. It was a time to ensure that enough supplies were laid in for the winter, to slaughter livestock for winter stores, and prepare for the dark and cold months to come.
It also encompassed something less tangible. October 31st marked a time when the boundaries between the living and the spirit world were so thin that the dead could endanger the living. It was believed that the spirits of the dead were bent on causing harm to the living; mostly in the form of rotting crops, killing livestock, and dire sicknesses. Thus the celebrations of Samhain included the practice of lighting huge bonfires to keep the dead away. The masses would also dress up in costumes and masks in an effort to impersonate the dead spirits. It was believed that this would trick the evil spirits into not causing harm on the living. From this the idea of Halloween was born.
The current holiday was influenced greatly by the Catholic holiday All Saints Day. Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the day that All Saints Day was observed from May 13th to November 1st to counter act the intensity of belief the common people placed in All Hallows Eve and All Hallows Day. By overtaking All Hallows Day the Popes forever intertwined the two religions.
Halloween is celebrated in many places around the globe. The traditions that surround these global holidays differ and stem from separate themes. However, the popularized modern Samhain can be seen in most places celebrated in addition to their own traditional holidays.
Our journey begins in perhaps an obvious place, Ireland. It is still common place to find bonfires lit on All Hallows Eve, though the spiritualism that was associated with them in years past has gone. They are gathering places for adults and children alike to display their costumes. Trick or Treating is practiced here, though originally children asked for fruit and nuts from their neighbors. Today, with the onslaught of American culture, Irish children seek goodies, treats, and sweets.
In some places a traditional Halloween cake is used as a divination game. The Halloween Brack, or the barmbrack, is a fruit-bread. Within this bread is baked a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a coin, and a ring. Each guest is given a slice of bread. The one to find the pea will not marry this year. The stick indicated unhappiness in marriage. The cloth meant bad luck. The coin bespoke of riches to come, and the ring eluded to a marriage in the recipients future.
Now let us alight upon Scotland. Here Halloween is focused on the world of the faeries. To keep the evil spirits and faeries away any child who left the safety of their house carried a lantern carved from a turnip. Today these lanterns are made from pumpkins. The idea of dressing up came from the thought that disguising children as creatures hid them from spirits that would steal them away to a faerie ring. The costumes survive today in Scotland, and children go door to door trying to entertain their neighbors for a treat.
Our next stop is England. In years past children would go souling, which is the act of going door to door singing or saying prayers for the dead in exchange for cakes (soul cakes) or money. It is believed that this tradition was the early roots of the Trick or Treating of today. In modern day England there is a great focus on Mischief Night. It is a night to play tricks, some minor and others very serious, on neighbors and friends.
In Mexico the actual holiday of Halloween is fairly new, greatly influenced by American traditions. The true cultural celebration for this time of year is Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead. It is a two-day celebration where families, friends, towns, and communities gather to pray and remember the dead. People build altars, which are decorated with sugar skulls and marigolds, and they cook favorite foods for loved ones who have passed. Parades and gatherings are also common. This festival is held on November 1st and 2nd.
There are a great many other countries that celebrate the Americanized version of Halloween which is supported and advertised by commercial business. It is a copy of the extravagance that Americans display for their celebration of Halloween. Mostly adults dress up and large parties are thrown. This occurs in places such as The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland. However, the peoples of Switzerland have practiced Halloween less and less, finding no traditional value in the celebration.
Now let us land in America. There isn’t much that Americans won’t do for Halloween. The traditions of Ireland and England are at the core of the American traditions. From babies to adults there are costume contests and trick-or-treating. Parties, parades, and gatherings of all sorts are common. Mischief night has also become a mainstay in American culture. Costumes are a major focus; they must be bigger and better and more elaborate then the last. Children go door to door to be given copious amounts of candy and their parents always find ways to hide away some for themselves. There are, of course, some factions of some religions that dislike the festivities that surround Halloween and frown upon them. However, these voices of discontent have not dissuaded the American public from going crazy for Halloween.
From all around the globe people gather to celebrate a day that has many connotations. In popular culture the deeper meanings have been lost, but that hasn’t stopped a hoard of folks from have a scary good time on October 31st.
Image credits:
Above right: Blessed Samhain Graphic from: Two Pagans