Taking a closer look at the spirit of the holiday
While Halloween has become one of the most commercially successful holidays, with the candy, the movies, the television specials, and, of course, the costumes, the history of Halloween is not as well-known as the history of other popular holidays like Christmas.
The origins of Halloween lie in the Celtic festival Samhain, according to UCLA folklore professor Dr. Peter Tokofsky. Samhain, pronounced “Sah-win,” celebrated the end of the summer and the Celtic new year, and took place on November 1.
“…Samhain revelers would dress up as monsters and witches in an attempt to dissuade spirits from possessing their bodies…”
As with modern Halloween, Samhain was seen as the day where the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead was paper thin, which allowed the dead to transcend back over to the world they left behind. To protect themselves from the encroaching spirit world, celebrators would build massive bonfires to ward away the evil spirits, but kept their doors open to the spirits of lost loved ones who were looking to find their way back home. The malicious spirits were feared because of their perceived ability to possess living hosts, and cause mayhem on Samhain.
These traditions live on in modern Halloween, where illuminated jack o’ lanterns ward off evil spirits wishing to haunt a residence, while masked trick-or-treaters are contemporary representations of how Samhain revelers would dress up as monsters and witches in an attempt to dissuade spirits from possessing their bodies.
“…the day where the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead was paper thin…”
Samhain also celebrated the harvest, which was closely tied to the dying of the land. As the days grew shorter and the nights grew longer, the Celts believed that this phenomenon was caused by the dimming of the sun. In an attempt to please the sun, and stop if from dying, Samhain celebrators would burn crops and sacrifice animals in the sun’s honour. Over time, this evolved into a celebration of death, for the land before the oncoming winter, and those that had been lost in the past year.
As Celtic regions of the world became Christianized, which was around the seventh century, the old Pagan beliefs of Samhain were appropriated into the Christian tradition. Pope Gregory I, also known as Pope Gregory the Great, was instrumental in the shift of November 1 from Samhain to All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows’ Day. The purpose of All Saints’ Day was to celebrate the saints within the Catholic Church who did not have a specific day in the Christian calendar. The night before All Hallows’ Day then became known as All Hallows’ Eve which, over time, became the modern Halloween.
“… trick-or-treating, one of the staples of Halloween, caught on during the Great Depression…”
The modern notion of trick-or-treating, one of the staples of Halloween, caught on during the Great Depression in America. Children would use Halloween as an excuse to cause mischief and mayhem. In an attempt to reign these rowdy ruffians in, adults would give the children candy at their doorsteps to pacify the kids and to dissuade any notions of vandalism. The costumes were, originally, a way for the candy givers to try and guess which neighbourhood children were hidden behind each mask. Even though the guessing has vanished over time, and much of the more chaotic aspects of Samhain have as well, the spirit of the spooky holiday has remained.
Image by Daniel Maclise.