Halloween (or Hallowe’en) is an annual holiday observed on October 31, primarily in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. It is a mix of ancient Pagan Celtic traditions, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that blended together over time.
The Celtic holiday of Samhain, the Catholic Hallowmas period of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day and the Roman festival of Feralia
all influenced the modern holiday of Halloween.
Ancient Celts believed that on the night before their new year on November 1, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through.
Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity and life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. In the 19th century, Halloween began to lose its religious connotation, becoming a more secular community-based children’s holiday.
Celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the holiday is observed in other nations. This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as South America, Europe, to Japan under the auspices of the Japanese Biscuit Association, and other parts of East Asia.
“This is Halloween” – One of today’s most famous Halloween songs,
from Tim Burton’s movie “Nightmare before Christmas:
from Tim Burton’s movie “Nightmare before Christmas:
Common Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o’-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, committing pranks, telling ghost stories or other frightening tales, and watching horror films.
______________________________________________________________
ORIGINS
The CELTIC FESTIVAL of SAMHAIN
Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced Sow-in in Ireland, Sow-een in Wales and Saven or Sam-haine in Scotland and the word for November in some Gaelic languages)
The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the “lighter half” of the year in Gaelic culture and the beginning of the “darker half”. It is also regarded as the “Celtic New Year”.
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of the year that was often associated with human death.
Ancient Celts believed that on October 31, the night before their new year, the ghosts of the dead could return to earth.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
The family’s ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm.
Costumes were typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces.
When the celebration was over, Celts re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.
Roman Additions
When the Romans invaded the British Isles they added their own customs and traditions to those of the Celts. Two of the most notable were the celebration of Feralia – the Roman comemoration of the dead and the day of honour for Pomona, goddess of fruit and trees.
Feralia was held on a day in late October or early November, so tied in with the existing Samhain festivities and beliefs. Whilst Pomona celembrated the harvest with her fruit – the apple. A possible reason for ‘bobbing for apples’ costums.
Name Origin
The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even (“evening”), that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Up through the early 20th century, the spelling “Hallowe’en” was frequently used, eliding the “v” and shortening the word. Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hālgena mæssedæg, mass-day of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556.
All Hallows Day is also known as All Saints Day.
The name ‘Halloween’ and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era.
______________________________________________________________
R E L I G I O U S - A S P E C T S
CHRISTIAN CHURCH
As Christianity took hold of the Celtic world, the church took many of the existing pagan festivals and re-invented them as Christian holidays and celebrations.
In the 7th Century, Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to the Virgin Mary on 13 May. This holiday was then changed to 1 November by Pope Gregory III and the Pantheon rededicated to the honour of All Saints Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs, in the Vatican Basilica, as an attempt to remove the Samhain festivals from the Celtic calender.
The celebration of All Saints Day was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’, and All Souls’, were called Hallowmas and lasted three days, from 31 October to 2 November.
______________________________________________________________
Christian Attitudes towards Halloween
Christian attitudes towards Halloween are quite diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions of All Saints’ Day, while some other Protestants celebrate the holiday as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation. Father Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, “If English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that.” In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a “Saint Fest” on the holiday. Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy.
Many Christians ascribe no negative significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular holiday devoted to celebrating “imaginary spooks” and handing out candy. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners’ heritage.In the Roman Catholic Church Halloween is viewed as having a Christian connection, and Halloween celebrations are common in Catholic parochial schools throughout North America and in Ireland.
Other Christians feel concerned about Halloween, and reject the holiday because they feel it trivializes – or celebrates – paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs. A response among some fundamentalist and conservative evangelical churches in recent years has been the use of ‘Hell houses’, themed pamphlets, or comic-style tracts such as those created by Jack T. Chick in order to make use of Halloween’s popularity as an opportunity for evangelism. Some consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith because of its origin as a pagan “Festival of the Dead”. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate Halloween because they believe anything that originated from a pagan holiday should not be celebrated by true Christians.
______________________________________________________________
in Mexico, Latin America and Spain
In Mexico, Latin America, and Spain, All Souls’ Day, which takes place on November 2, is commemorated with a three-day celebration that begins on the evening of October 31. The celebration is designed to honor the dead who, it is believed, return to their earthly homes on All Souls’ Day. Many families construct an altar to the dead in their homes to honor deceased relatives and decorate it with candy, flowers, photographs, samples of the deceased’s favorite foods and drinks, and fresh water. Often, a wash basin and towel are left out so that the spirit can wash before indulging in the feast.
Candles and incense are burned to help the deceased find the way home. Relatives also tidy the gravesites of their departed family members. This can include snipping weeds, making repairs, and painting. The grave is then decorated with flowers, wreaths, or paper streamers. On November 2, relatives gather at the gravesite to picnic and reminisce. Some gatherings even include tequila and a mariachi band! Celebrations honoring departed loved ones and family members are found as far back as ancient Egyptian times.
______________________________________________________________
Neo-Paganism
Celtic Pagans consider the season a holy time of year. Celtic Reconstructionists, and others who maintain ancestral customs, make offerings to the gods and the ancestors. Some Wiccans feel that the tradition is offensive to Wiccan practitioners for promoting stereotypical caricatures of “wicked witches”.
Samhain is observed by various Neopagans in various ways. As forms of Neopaganism can differ widely in both their origins and practices, these representations can vary considerably despite the shared name. Some Neopagans have elaborate rituals to honor the dead, and the deities who are associated with the dead in their particular culture or tradition. Some celebrate in a manner as close as possible to how the Ancient Celts and Living Celtic cultures have maintained the traditions, while others observe the holiday with rituals culled from numerous other unrelated sources, Celtic culture being only one of the sources used.
———————-Samhain parade Edinburgh 2009
Wicca
Wicca is a Neopagan religion and a form of modern witchcraft.
Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the “witch cult” and “witchcraft”, and its adherents “the Wica”. From the 1960s onward the name of the religion was normalised to “Wicca”.
Wicca is typically a duotheistic religion, worshipping a Goddess and a God, who are traditionally viewed as the Triple Goddess and Horned God. These two deities are often viewed as being facets of a greater pantheistic Godhead, and as manifesting themselves as various polytheistic deities.
Samhain is one of the eight annual festivals, often referred to as ‘Sabbats’, observed as part of the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. It is considered by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four ‘greater Sabbats’. It is generally observed on October 31 in the Northern Hemisphere, starting at sundown.
Samhain is considered by some Wiccans as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died.
In some rituals the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the wheel by the spring festival of Beltane, which Wiccans celebrate as a festival of light and fertility.
About Samhain, the most important of the eight Wiccan sabbats:
Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans
Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans tend to celebrate Samhain on the date of first frost, or when the last of the harvest is in and the ground is dry enough to have a bonfire. Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionists place emphasis on historical accuracy, and base their celebrations and rituals on traditional lore from the living Celtic cultures, as well as research into the older beliefs of the polytheistic Celts. At bonfire rituals, some observe the old tradition of building two bonfires, which celebrants and livestock then walk or dance between as a ritual of purification.
______________________________________________________________
and CUSTOMS
Halloween is still celebrated today in several countries around the globe.
The autumn rite is commemorated in the United Kingdom. In Mexico, Latin America, and Spain, All Souls’ Day, the third day of the three-day Hallowmas observance, is the most important part of the celebration for many people. In Ireland and Canada, Halloween, which was once a frightening and superstitious time of year, is celebrated much as it is in the United States, with trick-or-treating, costume parties, and fun for all ages.
———————-TRICK-OR-TREATING
Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, “Trick or treat?” The word “trick” refers to a (mostly idle) “threat” to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.
In some parts of Scotland children still go guising. In this custom the child performs some sort of trick, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, to earn their treats.
photo: www.sheknows.com
‘Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF” has become a common sight during Halloween in North America. Started as a local event in a Philadelphia suburb in 1950, and expanded nationally in 1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark at their licensed stores) to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small change donations from the houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $119 million (US) for UNICEF since its inception. In 2006 UNICEF discontinued their Halloween collection boxes in parts of the world, citing safety and administrative concerns.
“Knock Knock, Trick or Treat?” – A famous Halloween song for children:
______________________________________________________________
COSTUMES
The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots.
Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils.
Dressing up in costumes and going “guising” was prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the 19th century.Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children. The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in the United States.
What sets Halloween costumes apart from costumes for other celebrations or days of dressing up is that they are often designed to imitate supernatural and scary beings.
——————–Some scary Halloween masks for adults:
Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from science fiction as aliens and superheroes, there are also costumes of pop culture figures like presidents, athletes, celebrities, or film, television, and cartoon characters. Another popular trend is for women (and in some cases, men) to use Halloween as an excuse to wear sexy or revealing costumes, showing off more skin than would be socially acceptable otherwise.
Halloween costume parties generally fall on, or around, 31 October, often falling on the Friday or Saturday prior to Halloween.
______________________________________________________________
JACK O’ LANTERN
The carved PUMPKIN, lit by a candle inside, is one of Halloween’s most prominent symbols in America, and is commonly called a “JACK-O’LANTERN”.
Originating in Europe, these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body containing the spirit and the knowledge, the Celts used the “head” of the vegetable to frighten off any superstitions.
The name Jack-O’Llantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of “Stingy Jack”, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. 
He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip.
The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America, where pumpkins were readily available and much larger, making them easier to carve than turnips.
Many families who celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their home’s doorstep after dark.
—————–How to make a Jack O’Lantern pumpkin:
______________________________________________________________
APPLE BOBBING
There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween parties.
The most common is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water; the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drop the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity which inevitably leads to a very sticky face.
______________________________________________________________
GAMES & DIVINATION
Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination. A traditional Scottish form of divining one’s future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over one’s shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse’s name.
Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Games played in Ireland include a card game where cards are laid face down on a table with candy or coins underneath them. When a child chooses a card, he receives whatever prize is found below it.
Another game played in Ireland is Puicíní (pronounced “poocheeny”), where a blindfolded person is seated in front of a table on which several saucers are placed. The saucers are shuffled and the seated person then chooses one by touch. The contents of the saucer determine the person’s life during the following year. A saucer containing earth means someone known to the player will die during the next year, a saucer containing water foretells emigration, a ring foretells marriage, a set of Rosary beads indicates that the person will take Holy Orders (becoming a nun or a priest). A coin means new wealth, a bean means poverty, and so on.”
______________________________________________________________
GHOST STORIES & HORROR FILMS
The telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before the holiday, while new horror films are often released theatrically before the holiday to take advantage of the atmosphere.
Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons, and typically are seasonal Halloween businesses. They include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides that are staffed by actors in horrifying costumes placed to startle and terrify customers.
“Blood Manor” spook fiesta in NY Manhattan:
Following the suburban trend of special haunted houses that open for viewers only in the haunted season, urban New York City has come up with few of its own. One such spook-fiesta is Blood Manor on the west side of Manhattan.
Blood Manor is a labyrinth of dark halls, 12 rooms of terror and what it’s owners claim is the city’s only haunted 3-D maze. One of the persons laughing hard in the Blood Manor is actor Guy DeMatties, who enacts the role of lunatic Dr. Shock in a special room, littered with fake corpses and blood.
The Nightmare Haunted House cost about $200,000 to build.(www.itnsource.com; Reuters 15221/05)
______________________________________________________________
FOODS
Because the holiday comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.
In Ireland there is the custom of baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of barmbrack (Irish: báirín breac), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin and other charms are placed before baking. It is said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany.
In England, Bonfire toffee (also known as treacle toffee, Plot toffee, or Tom Trot) a hard, brittle toffee, are a traditional sweet on Halloween and Christmas as well.
candy pumpkins
______________________________________________________________
A Halloween classic: Theme from the horror movie “Halloween”:
A Celtic song by Loreena McKennitt
about pagan memories on All Souls Night
about pagan memories on All Souls Night
I wish all who celebrate it:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Happy SAMHAIN!
Best wishes,
Angela Nilsson
______________________________________________________________
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween-around-the-world
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca
________________________________________________________________
