There are many things that October brings and most famous is Halloween. Most of us know Halloween as a day to dress up and get free candy, but its devious origins are hidden under plastic masks and smoke machines. The not so sweet implications of Halloween are not hard to find. According to the Oxford Dictionary, Halloween is "night of 31 October...often celebrated by children dressing up in frightening masks and costumes." No changes there, until it describes the day as "Eve of All Saints Day", maybe related to the Celtic festival Samhain when the dead and spirits are believed to be abroad.
It makes you wonder, do you know what you are celebrating?
Our analysis of Halloween should start with finding out what exactly is All Saints Day. All Saints Day is on November 1, also known as All Hallows or Hallowmas. We can already see where the name Halloween came from some denominations of Christianity, such as the Roman Catholics and the Lutheran Church. All Saints occurred the first Sunday after Pentecost – meaning 50 days – in Eastern Catholicism. The celebration was from evening October 31 to the night of November 1, then follows All Souls Day which commemorates the dead, usually a relative. All three days are a part of a bigger observance called Allhallowtide, which is a day to remember the dead, including martyrs, saints (hallows) and Christians. During these three days, they believe there is a “prayerful spiritual bond between those in heaven and the living.”
Many cultures actually observe November 1 and 2 as days to remember the dead. In France, it's called "La Toussaint" and "Les Jours des Morts," which is not only similar to what some Christians do in America but to the observance of "Día de los Muertos" and "Día de los Santos Inocentes" in Mexico. Both cultures have days that translate into "The Day of the Dead" on which they remember the dead. In Mexican culture, children finally come into play, for November 2 is the day to remember the deceased children and infants. Although it may sound morbid to some, it's not a bad thing to observe.
This raises the question of whether Halloween is also an observance of the dead, and if so, where do the monsters come into play?
We now know it has originated from Hallows Eve, which is an observance for the dead saints, martyrs and Christians, but it is not really viewed that way today. Now it's about candy and monsters. The holiday has pagan roots to the Celtic Harvest Festivals, which is a festival traditionally held near the harvest moon, aka the autumnal equinox. They sing hymns, pray and decorate their churches. Their customs resembled ours in the rituals, games and lanterns they created. These divination rituals and games were apple bobbing, scrying (mirror-gazing), dream interpretations and pouring molten lead or egg whites into water. Bomb fires were also lit and believed to keep away the devil.
Mumming and guising were during the festival when people would dress in costumes and go door to door singing hymns in exchange for food. These traditions might have come from souling or dressing up as the dead to receive offerings on their behalf. This is where trick-or-treating originates from. The jack-o'-lantern came from this Irish folktale:
On route home after a night's drinking, Jack encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, thus trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul. After a life of sin, drink, and mendacity, Jack is refused entry to heaven when he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night, so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out, since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to rest.
The skull comes from Golgotha, a place outside of Jerusalem, meaning from the skull. The term trick-or-treat comes from children going house to house asking for treats, and if they did not receive any then they would play tricks or threats of mischief on the homes.
Everyone has heard of Halloween and it seems like a night of candy and harmless pranks, but the origins run much deeper. Halloween symbolizes so much more, and is that what you really want to be celebrating? Next time you dress up or buy a bag of Halloween candy, you should consider that you are recreating guising and Celtic festivals.
