alloween, All Hallows Eve, Allhallowmas, All Saints Day. The scariest night of the

ar has its roots in a variety of cultures dating back to the early societies of Ireland and

reat Britain.

The ancient Celts of Ireland, England and Northern France celebrated the festival of
amhain (sowin), or Festival of the Sun, which was the New Year. The festival fell on

ovember 1, which marked the end of summer's harvest and the beginning of the dark,
old, winter season. In Celtic culture, winter was a season of death and the Celts

lieved that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the world of the
ving and the world of the dead became faded, allowing the spirits to pass into the
orld of the living. The Celts believed that the presence of spirits from the netherworld
lowed their priests, the Druids, to make predictions about the future.

The Celts also believed that all the people who had died the previous year would
ome back to the world of the living and attempt to possess a living body for the com-

g year.

On the evening of October 31 the Celtic peoples, not wanting to become possessed,
xtinguished their hearth fires and made their homes as miserable and undesirable as
ossible. They then dressed up in costumes made from animal hides and tree bark and
araded around in large mobs to scare away any curious spirits.

It was often thought that if someone was possessed, then that person should be
urned at the stake, as a lesson to other spirits who might be interested in finding a
arm body to inhabit.

er parading around and making as much racket as possible the people gathered
ound huge bonfires, prepared by the Druids. Families donated crops and animals that
ere burned as sacrifices to the gods, and the Druids would make predictions about the
joming year. As people left the bonfire, they would take embers from the fire back with
em to relight their hearth fires, which would keep them safe and warm throughout

e dark winter months.

After the Celtic lands were conquered by the Romans, two Roman festivals were inte-

ated with the Celtic celebration of Samhain. The Roman festival of Feralia honoured

irits that had passed on. Feralia was celebrated by the Romans on February 21, and
cluded a large feast of remembrance and a reciting of stories about family heroes. The
cond Roman festival that was introduced to the Celts was Pomona, the Roman god-
ss of trees and fruit. Pomona was a harvest festival that was celebrated in October,
iving thanks for a bountiful growing season. The symbol of Pomona is an apple, and
has been hypothesized that this may be the origin of Halloweens bobbing for apples.
obbing for apples has been a Halloween tradition in Ireland for close to 1500 years,
ut the Roman legions never actually conquered Ireland.

The Roman Empire adopted Christianity as the imperial religion in the fourth cen-

ry of the Common Era. The Church of Rome adopted many celebrations from pagan

October 30, 2002

cultures in order to recruit membership. In the early days of the Roman Christians the
festival of Feralia was renamed to All Saints Day, celebrating the lives of Saints, both
living and dead. This festival was celebrated in the early springtime.

Later, as the Christian monks moved to the British Isles and Ireland, religious lead-
ers re-named the festival of Samhain, All Saints Day. The date of All Saints was moved
from a date in May to November 1.

The name All Saints was known in Middle English as Alholowmesse, which is the
origin of All Hallowmas and Allhallows.

In the eleventh century, the Church of Rome named November 2 as All Souls Day,
following All Saints Day. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain with big
bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as Saints, angels and devils. Together, a
three-day festival was held, beginning on October 31 as Allhallows Eve.

The custom of trick-or-treating is considered to have its origins from All Souls Day.

On November 2, the third day of Hallowmas, beggars were allowed to walk from vil-
lage to village asking for soul cakes made out of bread baked with currents. The soul
cakes were given in exchange for prayers for family members who had passed on.
The Christians of the Middle Ages in Western Europe believed that after a person
passed. away, their soul would remain in limbo for a while. Prayers for the person’s soul
would help the spirit find its way more quickly to the gates of heaven. The more prayers
the spirit received, the faster it would make its way to paradise.

When the Irish left Ireland during the potato famines of the 1840s they brought the
Halloween customs to the New World. It took some time for the Irish folk festivities to
catch on. Not all people in the Americas were excited about having to give out treats
and they often became the targets of Halloween pranks. There are stories about people
who did not offer treats on Halloween, having their gates removed from fences, and
out-houses moved off their foundations—the Halloween spirits must be appeased.

The jack-o’-lantern custom comes from Irish folklore. A notorious drunkard and
trickster named Jack had tricked the devil into climbing a tree. With the devil up the
tree, Jack carved a cross in the tree’s trunk. Jack promised to release the devil, under the
condition that Satan would no longer tempt him.

As the story goes, after Jack died he was denied access to heaven because of his drink-
ing and pranks. But he was also denied access to hell because he had tricked the devil.
Satan instead gave Jack a single ember of hellfire, placed inside a hollowed turnip to
keep the ember burning longer, to light his way in the netherworld between heaven and
hell. Naughty children were told that they would be put out at night, where Jack would
come looking for company on his undead journey.

The Irish immigrants discovered that pumpkins were far more common in the New

World, and they grew much bigger than turnips, so pumpkins became the new jack-o’-
Lanterns.

 

 

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