Some History of Halloween

 

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I recently moved to New Zealand and immediately realized Halloween is not a big holiday here, especially compared to the United States. My partner didn't know the date Halloween is celebrated on until we spent our first Halloween together. As it's my favorite holiday, and I love history, I thought I might dive into the meaning behind this spectacular day. 

The Origins of Halloween

Halloween falls on the 31st of October every year. The traditions align with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the coming of winter. The dark season is often associated with death. The Celts celebrated the new year on the 1st of November and believed that the night before the new year was when the boundary between the living and the dead was thin to allow spirits of the departed to return to our side of the veil. Pope Gregory III designated the new year as a time to honor all saints, and in the eighth century All Saints Day became the holiday falling on November 1st. Some aspects of Samhain were incorporated into All Saints Day. The night before All Saints Day was called All Hallows Eve and later, Halloween.

Samhain's Festivities

During the time that spirits could connect with the Earth, they would cause mischief and damage crops. The thin boundary between worlds allowed for Celtic priests, or Druids, to make prophecies of the coming winter. Druids built great bonfires so the people could make sacrifices to Celtic deities, during which, they wore costumes and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. People dressed in animal skins or as hungry ghosts to go door to door asking for food. People would play pranks just like the spirits who cause mischief during the holiday. Once the festivities ended, the fire from the sacred bonfire would be used to light individual's hearths as a protection for winter.

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Interesting Pieces

The Roman Empire had their own holiday Lemuria or Lemuralia, which commemorated the passing of their dead. As the empire conquered most of the Celtic territory by 43 C.E. eventually their two holidays were combined. The first day, Feralia, was spent celebrating the dead, while the second day, Pomona, celebrated the goddess of fruit and trees. Pomona's symbol is the apple and quite possibly explains the tradition of bobbing for apples that followed the holiday.

Halloween in the United States is a distinct combination of many traditions that eventually formed Halloween in a modern, American sense. New England had a limited celebration for All Hallows Eve because of their strict Protestant beliefs, so the holiday was more popular in the southern colonies. As colonists and Native American traditions mingled, the holiday changed. In the 19th century, Irish immigrants escaping the Potato Famine, pushed the popularization of Halloween.

Halloween matchmaking was quite popular. Women would have their fortunes told to try to figure out who their husband would be, and if they would be married by next Halloween. It is an obsolete tradition now, and rightly so. Tradition is not static, but dynamic. Allowing the removal of potentially harmful aspects of a holiday to incorporate and include new traditions is how many festivities have arrived at their form now. 

Jack O'Lanterns

As Samhain was a time that spirits would roam the Earth, people from Ireland and Scotland began carving scary faces into turnips and potatoes to ward off Stingy Jack and other evil spirits. The legend of Stingy Jack is about a man who tricked the Devil and made a deal with him that Satan could not claim Jack's soul when he died. He was not allowed into Heaven or Hell, so he spends eternity walking the night with only burning coal to light his way. Jack placed the coal into a carved out turnip and was on his way. In England they used carved beets. It was only when immigrants brought the tradition to the US, that they found native pumpkins and realized they were perfect for carving. 

Anyway, have a safe and fun evening.

Happy Halloween!

My photo. I carved this pumpkin in 2016.

You can find links to my resources below:

https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween 

https://www.pronounceitright.com/pronunciation/samhain-15220 

https://www.history.com/news/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins