The Origins of Halloween
The origins of Halloween are deeper than the amusing song, “trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat”, traditionally sang by youth in the U.S. on All Hallows Eve.
I recently came upon an article from the University of Albany.edu page where they go into a little of the background of this most popular of American holidays. The article states that the origins of Halloween can be found in writtings about the Celtic festival, “Samhain”. This was traditionally the Celts New Year. On this day they believed that one could commune with the deceased on this day to ask solutions to problems, to divine the future, and to ask favors to be redeemed in the after life.
The Article States,
“Samhain (pronounced sah-win or sow-in) means “summer’s end” by the Celts. In old Germanic and Celtic societies, what we call equinoxes and solstices marked the middles of the season, not the beginnings.” (Chamberlain) Therefore if there exist an autumnal equinox, winter solstice, spring equinox and a summer solstice, there are also the beginning of autumn, winter, spring and summer. All of these eight dates were important. Summer’s end which meant the beginning of winter was an important time for people who survived on plants grown in the field and animals that were kept in pastures. (Chamberlain) “This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death” (The History Channel Exhibits- History of Halloween) It is most likely this reason that the Druids (Celtic pagans) believed that the spirits of those who died the preceding year roamed the earth the night of Samhain (MSN Learning & Research- Halloween) Descriptions.
The Druids celebrated this holiday “with a great fire festival to encourage the dimming Sun not to vanish” and people “danced round bonfires to keep evil sprits away, but left their doors open in hopes that the kind spirits of loved ones might join them around their hearths”. On this night, “divination was thought to be more effective than any other time, so methods were derived to ascertain who might marry, what great person might be born, who might rise to prominence, or who might die” (Chamberlain). Also during the celebration, the Celts “wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes”. Crops were burned and animals were sacrificed (The History Channel Exhibits- The History of Halloween). The spirits were believed to be either “entertained by the living”, or to “find a body to possess for the incoming year”. This all gives reasons as to why “dressing up like witches, ghosts and goblins, villagers could avoid being possessed.” (Navarro )
Roman Influence.
By 43 AD, “Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory.” For the 400 years they occupied Celtic lands, two Roman festivals: Feralia (the commemoration of the passing of the dead) and a day to honor Pomona (the Roman goddess of fruits and trees). The apple served as a symbol for Pomona and which might have been incorporated into Samhain by the practice of “bobbing for apples” (The History of Halloween).
Christian Influence”
When newly converted Roman citizens were forced to adopt the new state religion, Christianity (The former religion being Mithraism), the Roman Catholic Church tried to accomate it’s new citizen’s previous rituals and holidays to keep order.
Pope Gregory IV in 835 wanted to make All Saint’s Day when Samhain was traditionally celebrated but substituted “All Souls Day”, decreed on November 2nd, to be celebrated in Samhain’s place. “All Souls Day” was first celebrated in a French monastery in 998. This holy day quickly spread throughout Europe in no time.
The Danse Macabre was performed in 16th Century Europe to dramatize the Deuterocanonical book of Second Macabees. This is where the custom of dressing up in scary and sometimes gory costumes comes from.
In the second half of the 19th century with the flood of Irish immigrants to the U.S. Americans started to celebrate the “trick-or-treat” tradition. If you did not give up a treat to the mob of chidren they would vandalise your property.
It seems we all eventually learned that it’s wiser to surrender the ransom of the treat to make the little girls and boys happy.
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