Hallowistory

Feeling spooked about the weeks to come? There are thriller movies taking over the Cineplex's, pumpkins on the front steps, and hanging ghosts, witches, goblins invading the neighborhoods. It's all a good sign of the haunting fun of Halloween. But Halloween season really means candy, costumes and...Celtic tradition?

Halloween is a modern holiday of an ancient Celtic tradition, Samhain. Two thousand years ago, the Celts lived in the United Kingdom and in Northern France and celebrated their new year on the first day of November. This day marked the end of the summer season and the harvest, as nature took a cold, harsh turn into winter. For the Celts, the winter was a rough season because of the low temperatures and often a sparse food supply that caused illness and death. But the Celts believed that on the night before the New Year (our present day Halloween) the line between the worlds of the dead and the living became blurred and they believed that the ghosts of people passed returned to the living world.

The Samhain holiday was paired with the belief that the spirits of the dead returned causing trouble and damaging crops. The holiday also meant the spirits would help the Celtic Priests, or Druids, make predictions about the future. And for people who wholly depend on the fertile, volatile natural world, these predictions gave direction and comfort for the Celts as they began the dismal winter ahead.

In honor of the holiday, the Celtic priests built large, sacred bonfires where people would gather to offer animal sacrifices to the Celtic deities. To preserve the light and fire of the sacred bonfires, the Celts would extinguish their own hearth fires before attending the celebration. They also wore costumes, usually made of animal heads and skins, during the celebration. It was tradition to try to predict one another's future, but the Druids were still the official voices on the forecast of their future despite the festivities.

For the next four hundred years, the Romans ruled the originally Celtic land. However, unlike the spirits that returned on Samhain, the lively Celtic culture had not passed. Two of the originally Roman festivals were combined with the Celtic's celebration of Samhain. The first was Ferella, a day in late October that marked the day the Romans traditionally honored the passing of the dead and the second was a day to honor the Roman goddess of fruit and trees, Pomona. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which explains the merge of "bobbing for apples" into the Celtic tradition.

Samhain transformed into Hallow E'en as the Roman Catholic/Christian religion that dominated much of Europe. In the Roman Catholic tradition, November 1 commemorates "All Souls" or "All Saints" day, which is a celebration where living souls can help redeem dead souls that may have not been spiritually cleansed before passing- this allows the living to help the dead into a heavenly afterworld. Many early cultures that practiced or were introduced to Roman Catholicism have historical marks on our beloved Halloween. Costumes and celebrations were a popular form of commemorating the dead souls that were believed to resurface for the hallowed evening.

Modern traditions such as trick-or-treating, jack-o-lanterns, and the "bobbing for apples" all have origins dating back to the Celtic and Roman Catholic early celebrations.

Trick-or-treating traditions date all the way back to All Souls' Day parades in English history. The poor would beg for food at the All Souls' Day parade and wealthier families would throw them "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for their loved ones' souls. This custom was called "going-a-souling" and was encouraged by the church as a means to replace the custom of leaving food and wine for the roaming spirits. Children later took up this practice by going door to door in their neighborhoods and were given food, ale and money. The ancient Celtic tradition was to place bowls of food outside their home to prevent the spirits from searching their homes.

The history of our Hallowed Evening will hopefully make you more excited about spooking the children that you'll be treating!

- Brittany Allen

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