Halloween Happenings
(or who is this Sam Hain bloke, anyway?)
Do you love Halloween and look forward to carving pumpkins, stuffing yourself with chocolate eyeballs, ghost stories and scary movie fests? I do, though my pumpkin carving skills are somewhat lacking! For many people, Halloween is a fun celebration of all things spooky. For others, it’s just commercialised clap trap that’s come over from America to make us spend more money. If you’re one of those you might be surprised to discover the true origins of this Autumnal celebration. Let’s take a brief look at when and where this festival actually came from and how it’s evolved to become the behemoth it is today.
Pagan Past
Far from being a modern American invention, Halloween can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounce SAH-win). For those whose knowledge of history is as sketchy as mine, the Celts lived across Britain, Ireland and Northern France from about 600 BC. Pre-Christian, the Celts were essentially a farming and agricultural people and their year was determined by the growing seasons. Samhain marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. It was considered the most significant of the four pagan fire festivals celebrated by the Celts each year.
Sometimes confused as being a separate tribe or people, Druids were actually the most learned Celtic folk - the priests and teachers. They would have led the Samhain celebrations and rituals.
(Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash)
One such ritual was the lighting of a communal bonfire in every village when the annual harvest was finished. This was done using a wheel that caused friction, generating sparks. The wheel was considered to represent the sun and villagers would take a flame from the sacred bonfire back to their homes to relight the hearth. It was believed that this would protect the people and keep them warm during the long winter months. The celebrations also included prayers and animal sacrifice.
The Celts believed that the barriers between the spirit and physical worlds would break down on Samhain and ghosts would walk the earth. The sacred bonfires were, therefore, also lit to ward off any evil spirits that might be wandering. Sometimes, banquet tables were prepared with food to placate the spirits. Villagers would disguise themselves in costumes made of animal skins to drive the phantoms away. Ringing any bells yet?
(Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash)
Roman Influences
Fast forward a little to the Roman invasion in 43 AD. During their 400 year occupation and rule of Britain the Romans assimilated many of their own celebrations into existing Celtic festivals.
Among other things, the Romans brought apple trees to Britain. These were a representation of Pomona, the Roman Goddess of fruit trees, gardens and orchards - sometimes known as the goddess of plenty. Her symbol was, of course, the apple and it’s believed that this is where the Halloween tradition of bobbing for apples originates.
(Photo by Ishan Wazalwar on Unsplash)
The Middle Ages and Christianity
Fast forward again to the Middle Ages. Medieval folk began dressing as ghosts, demons and other malevolent creatures to protect themselves from evil spirits - much like the Celts in their animal skins. They would perform antics in exchange for food or drink. This custom was know as ‘mumming’.
Although this did take place on Halloween, these days we tend only to associate ‘mumming’ with Christmas. The origins of mumming can be traced back, again, to the Romans. They held Saturnalia festivals which were feasts for Saturn, the God of agriculture and these took place in December. Romans would celebrate the new solar year with merrymaking and prayers for their winter crops.
By the 9th Century, Christianity had spread to Celtic lands where, like Roman culture, it blended with existing pagan rites, replacing some.
Samhain becomes Halloween
The Christian festival of All Hallows Day or All Saints Day was a time for honouring those who had died for their beliefs. Originally celebrated in May, Pope Gregory had the feast moved to 1st November in 837 AD. It’s thought that, in doing so, he was attempting to replace or assimilate the Celtic Samhain festival with a feast that had church approval.
As Samhain was celebrated on 31st October, the day before All Hallows Day, it naturally became All Hallows Even - later Hallowe’en then Halloween.
Here we see again the early roots of trick or treating. Poor people would visit the homes of wealthier families and promise to pray for their dead relatives in exchange
(Photo by Conner Baker on Unsplash)
for pastries. These pastries were known as ‘soul cakes’. Later, this practice (known as ‘souling’) was taken up by children who would go door to door asking for gifts. In Scotland and Ireland, young people took part in a tradition called guising - dressing up in costume and accepting offerings from various households. Instead of pledging to pray for the dead, they would sing a song, recite a poem, tell a joke or perform another sort of “trick” before collecting their treat, which typically consisted of fruit, nuts or coins.
By the 19th Century, colonial settlers from Europe had spread these ancient traditions to North America. Yes, we gave it to them! It’s unknown where or when the phrase ‘trick or treat’ was first coined but it was firmly established in American culture by the early 1950s. Some sources claim that the Halloween tradition of carving faces into pumpkins - known as Jack O’Lanterns - is an American invention. However, it’s more likely to have come from Ireland where turnips and potatoes were originally used. The purpose of the lanterns being, of course, to ward off evil spirits.
(Photo by Łukasz Nieścioruk on Unsplash)
Modern Halloween
Nonetheless, I think it’s fairly safe to say that it took our American cousins to grab Halloween by the throat and commercialise the Hell out of it. When I was a child the big thing before Christmas was Guy Fawkes night and, though Halloween was noted, it wasn’t the big event it’s become in the last couple of decades. These days the shops are as full of Halloween themed decorations and food as they are for Christmas. Trick or treating and parties are now the norm rather than the exception and a number of theme parks have sprung up in the UK. You can even get costumes for your pets.
If you enjoy it like me you probably don’t see all this as such a bad thing although Scaramouche, the Truffle Witch cat, refuses point blank to wear a costume of any kind! If you love a good theme park and you’re in striking distance of Crawley, West Sussex, I can highly recommend Shocktoberfest.
(Photo by Oxana Melis on Unsplash)
Have a Hauntingly Happy Halloween!
As we’ve seen, our ancestors believed that 31st October is when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at it’s thinnest. It’s believed to be the best time to make contact with the spirits - if you’re brave enough to try…….. It’s the time when you’re most likely to encounter ghoulies and ghosties and things going bump in the night. Be sure to disguise yourselves so the fairies don’t recognise you and kidnap you! Carve your pumpkin lanterns to ward off evil spirits! Or you could just snuggle up on the sofa with a scary movie and a mug of hot chocolate….
And if you don’t believe in any of that supernatural rubbish? Then remember that Halloween is also about celebrating the harvest and preparing and protecting ourselves for the long, dark winter months ahead. In our current difficult times maybe we could all do with that.
(Photo by Alexia Rodriquez on Unsplash)