Halloween History Mystery
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| from Buzzfeed creepy kid ghosts |
Halloween is actually a fairly modern take on an ancient celebration
and ritual in the pagan/Celtic world that was called Samhain, pronounced
Sah-win. Samhain was celebrated halfway
between the autumn equinox and winter solstice, generally October 30 to
November 1st (dates were added after calendars came along). It was a time when the
veils between the worlds were thinnest and the dead could cross over; it was a time
for celebrating a successful harvest and making sacrifices to get through the
winter and propitiate the gods for the next year. This was a dark and superstitious world where ritual and offerings to gods and goddesses were important to survival.
During these days giant bonfires were lit, in accordance with specific rituals. Feasts were laid out and the souls of dead
family members were invited to take a place at the table. Additionally,
offerings of food and drink were left outside to honor and ask favors of the spirits and
fairies who could cross over the thinned veil between the worlds during Samhain.
People wore masks and animal skins and disguised themselves;
‘mumming’ and ‘guising’ to either imitate the spirits or hide from them. The
poor offered to say prayers for the wealthy to keep the spirits at bay in
exchange for ‘soul cakes’. In other instances sometimes disguised folk went
door to door reciting verses in exchange for food. This is most likely the ancient origin of
trick or treating.
To scare away spirits people carved scary faced lanterns from
turnips, remember pumpkins are a fruit of the New World and were unknown in the
ancient world of Europe. They put a hot coal or ember in the lanterns and
carried them at night during Samhain. What joy to discover pumpkins, so much easier to carve than a turnip!
Pope Gregory II, knowing a good thing when he
saw it, conscripted Samhain from the superstitious Celts and turned it into All
Hallow’s Eve followed by All Saints Day. Hence, our modern Halloween, actually Hallow evening.
This let the Catholic church use the festival to convert the Celts to
Catholicism, especially the Irish, by using their own rituals and spirits to win them over.
Early America wanted no part of Halloween and
it was not celebrated in the USA until the Irish potato famine of 1845 brought
an enormous influx of the Irish to America as immigrants. At first, it was
celebrated primarily in Irish enclaves but its popularity spread and charming Victorian illustrations can still be found. By the
1920s the celebrations were out of control. Many cities and towns clamped down
and forbade the celebration because of the violence and viciousness it had
taken on in adult hands.
World War II and sugar rationing stopped any kind of celebration in its tracks; and after WWII in the 1950s it was ready to be
invented as the kid friendly holiday we know and love today. The holiday
continues to grow in popularity as adults embrace their inner kids and enjoy
today’s trend of costume parties, returning a lot of the holiday to the
grown-ups where it started.
Where did all the things we associate with
Halloween come from anyway?
The Celts believed the skeleton was the repository of the soul and honored it as such. They wanted to keep the dead from bothering the living and a lot of their rituals were geared to that end. Mexico has Day of the Dead to honor ancestors, and everyone loves spooky bones around Halloween.
Ghosts are a natural, the concept
of roving spirits has traveled directly to the present. Who remembers wearing
an old sheet with eye holes cut in it when your mom didn’t get your costume
finished? In the 1950's little ghosts were the most common costume out there
going door to door and hollering “Trick or Treat!” in the neighborhood.
Witches came out of the ancient
tradition of wise women, crones who were herbalists, spiritual advisers and
healers in the ancient world. The Catholic Church was not fond of women
usurping their authority and cast them as purveyors of dark arts and called them evil witches,
something America knows way too much about. Scary witches are still popular in
costume and concept.
Black cats have had a bad rap for a very long
time. They were regarded as familiars, the spiritual receptacles and advisers
for witches and as such were considered very bad kitties, almost made extinct at one time.
Bats came straight out of history. Those giant
all night bonfires threw a lot of light that attracted a lot of insects and all
those bugs attracted a bunch of bats to eat them. Bats are night flyers, an
automatic addition to the dark side.
Spiders show up in autumn, weaving their sticky
webs to catch unsuspecting bugs and seemingly everywhere we turn, walking into
a web is pretty awful so they got tossed into the arsenal too.
Vampires and werewolves are a more recent
addition, added to the mix primarily through 19th century
sensationalist literature. Frankenstein anyone?
Today, Halloween decorations from the turn of
the century through the 1950s are highly sought after and collected. The early
decorations were not geared to happy kiddies. Halloween parties were for grown-
ups back then and the decorations were meant to be truly scary and unsettling.
Happy hunting for those cool decorations and
old photos, and happy Halloween, or Secret Samhain!
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