HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN

When Halloween is said in passing conversations all sorts of images flash through the mind. The most memorable images are of course the jack-o-lantern, witches, vampires, monsters, candy, bobbing for apples, and trick-or-treating. All the images are part of the American culture that society has grown up with. But does society really know how or why we do the things we do on this one holiday? Halloween has always been shrouded in fog and mysterious customs that we accept and don’t question until now.
In today’s society Halloween is nothing what it was. Instead of getting dressed up in some costume that mom made walking around with a pillowcase and flashlight in hand going from house to house begging for candy kids either go out in the daylight or they go to the malls with their parents, to churches, or to some family-oriented party that is deemed “safe” when Halloween is suppose to get individuals to face and deal with that which scares them.
“Halloween can be scary for some children as well as adults. According to child psychologist, Dr. Lee Salk, such fears are normal, and Halloween is a good time for kids to deal with them. Halloween allows anxieties and misgivings to come out into the open, letting children manage what is at other times nightmarish. It is a time that helps them deal with any fears of death, darkness, ghosts, and monsters openly, without the risk of being laughed at by their peers or adults. Dr. Salk explains, “Halloween today has a special significance because many children feel helpless in the face of violence on television, kidnappings, and other tragedies occurring in their world. So today, the monsters under the bed that scare them are really the monsters inside their heads.” Since Halloween is actually a publicly endorsed chance to be outrageous, it allows the child to become the “monster” of his or her fears.
“This psychology applies to adults as well. The older we get, the more experience we accumulate, the greater out fears. Like children, some adults are affected by these fears more than others. By watching a scary movie in a dark living room while dipping our fingers into homemade buttery popcorn, or snuggling under mounds of covers and fluffy propped pillows in bed with your favorite Stephen King novel, or going all-out for Halloween, we are subconsciously attacking our fears so that we can live normal, productive lives.”(Ravenwolf 31-32)
Because of this holiday people will see costumes ranging from Jason and Freddy to Ghosts, Witches, and Vampires littering the streets, malls, and churches on this holiday. The only things that rival the joy of role playing with costumes on Halloween are actual tabletop RPG’s and the Internet where people can be whatever they want. But one of the many joys Halloween brings is the hands-on creativity and brain-power we experience while designing costumes for competitions. “Today’s Halloween costumes fulfill the human need to live out a fantasy where there are no consequences. Dr Steven Alter, a practicing clinical psychologist and an Adelphi University psychology professor, states that “wearing a mask allows us to experience another aspect of our identity without shaking the true identity that we normally use.” This may indicate why Halloween costumes have become so enticing to American adults.”(Ravenwolf 49-50)
But with the rise of the New Age Movement, which started in the 60’s and 70’s, Halloween, along with all other holidays, have started to go back to its original roots and activities, at least as close as they can. This movement is accepted more and more as Pagans come out of the ‘broom closet’ in today’s society. Recently, in the historical context, the military has actually accepted Paganism as a religion in their handbook. The two major groups that started this reemergence are the Gardnerian and Alexanderian. But since the movement started subgroups and new groups have started to pop up all over the U.S. Depending on the belief, a path is usually already there, can be made, or put under the heading of Eclectic.
Unfortunately, with the rise of new beliefs also rise problems with change. Existing Christian beliefs accuse Paganism as being Satanic when in doubt they are very different indeed. While Satanism is for anarchy Paganism is very nature based with consequences. Like some Christians even certain Pagans have problems with this holiday as well. They believe that it has turned into a merchandised holiday and has totally lost its original meaning as the Celtic New Year celebrating the dead and divining for the future.
With the rise of Halloween as a major holiday literature and movies has also risen with it. The Gothic literature from the 18th century is what has inspired today’s Horror writing style. Novels like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde are the three main novels that people would say are the classics. But Edgar Allen Poe’s eerie writing style is found throughout most of today’s novels, short stories, and poetry.
But, unlike literature, movies have rapidly been evolving into an identity all its own. Be them mainstreams, B-rated, or Independents they are able to be picked out form all the others out in movie land. The unholy trinity of horror flicks is the Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street Franchises. The main characters in the unholy trinity have helped raise today’s generation and many more to come. But of course when a B-rated horror flick is mentioned among the many that are admired are the Sam Raimi Evil Dead series which are in their interiorly Halloweenish with the spooky trees, magician’s forbidden book, moonlight, and isolated location. But as far as the Independent films The Blair Witch Project has outceded the original Halloween as the most successful Independent Horror flick of all time.
If gone through in depth people will find that at the heart of horror flicks, literature, and Halloween customs, ancient Pagan history, rites, and rituals can be found. Even though Pagan refers to anything that’s not Christian, Jewish, or Muslim most of the historical significance of Halloween comes from the Celtic groups from the British Isles. With most Pre-Christian groups their history and traditions are passed down orally. It’s not until a more advanced civilization comes around and records a biased account like the Romans did when they conquered the Celts.
The Celts were a pastoral group, they raised animals. With this lifestyle their year was divided in half with putting the animals out to pasture during the Spring and bringing them in during the Fall. The Fall Festival, that we now call Halloween, was called Samhain (Soween). This particular holiday designates the end of Summer and is deemed the Celtic New Year. This festival lasts for three days and concentrated on celebrating the dead and divining for the future.
One of the traditions that was followed was the dosing all the fires and relighting them from one main fire signaling a New Year. Unlike today, the Celts didn’t fear the dead. They would set out a plate of food for them welcoming the dearly departed. “From these visits came the idea that those who had gone beyond the land of the living could provide information on past or future events, thus the practice of divination in conjunction with Samhain was born.”(Ravenwolf 7)
One of the many traditions that has been kept over the decades is the jack-o-lantern. Now originally pumpkins weren’t used, that is totally American. Instead, turnips were the main vegetable used in this natural candle holder. They weren’t carved into funny faces but hollowed out into a holder to light the way. Traditional stories all tell basically the same story of a man named Jack who tricks the devil to climb a tree and gets stuck in it. Jack agrees to help him down with one catch, he can never be allowed into Hell. The devil agrees. Jack becomes a major sinner and dies. Heaven won’t let him in and Hell won’t take him. So, to find someone to take his place he hollows out a turnip and puts a lump of coal in it to light his way. It is said that if Jack sees someone else with a ‘lantern’ them he believes you’re another lost soul and leaves you be. This is why Jack-o-lanterns play a major role in Halloween.
Along with Jack-o-lanterns trick-or-treating and costumes also still play a major role in holiday. Since the Celts didn’t fear death they would leave out a plate of food for the dearly departed which started the treat part of the saying. Now the tricking part was thought of to be done by the shidhe (shee), fairies which kidnap people from the local villages for fun and forget to return them later, which started the costume part of Halloween. People would dress up as other creatures so that the fairies wouldn’t think of them as people. But trick-or-treating is also associated with Thanksgiving of all holidays.
“Scholars are currently tussling over the origin of masks and costumes. Some feel that these fun forays into fantasy were worn to scare off things that screech in the night where other are firmly entrenched in the ideology that costumes and masks brought the individual wearer closer to the spirit realms by creating a sympathetic energy between themselves and the natural world.”(Ravenwolf 49) No matter why people back then wore costumes this tradition has carried on to today’s customs.
With Samhain being the Celtic New Year it can’t be complete without diving for the future like today’s New Year. The Celts used many different types of systems like casting of lots, yes/no stones, apples, and water. The casting of lots is an ancient divination technique of throwing “lots” made of bone, shell, or wood. A modern version of this technique is the Viking runes. The more throws done the more complete the answer to the question will be. The yes/no stones are the simplest to master of all the divination techniques. “However, the most difficult factors in using any divination techniques are not trusting your intuition and trying to second-guess the issue, and asking the proper question. In any divination technique, the answer you receive indicates what will most likely happen if you continue on your chosen path.”(Ravenwolf 74) With the yes/no stones the answer is easy to decipher, blanks are no and the marked sides are yes. The more of one side there is the more the answer will lean towards.
The most used divination technique for Pagans involve the apple. The apple represents knowledge, magic, and is associated with the Goddess. Love divinations are what the apple is used for mostly. When cut in half the seeds show the magical pentacle which represents the elements and spirit. “Apples were also thought of to help find a true love, or discover if your lover has been faithful (or not).”(Ravenwolf 76) A lot of the rituals involving apples also involve a mirror. It’s believed that if a girl peels, eats, or holds each piece over her left shoulder then her future husband’s reflection can be seen. Another technique is peeling an apple in one long peel, throwing it over your shoulder or in a bowl of water, and the form it takes will be the first initial of your true love. There are many other techniques that were used but the main one that is still used, with a few modifications of course, is apple bobbing. The ancient tradition was that a group of single boys and girls would get together and mark apples, which they would mix in a tub of water with unmarked ones. Then, without hands, individuals will try to take bites out of an apple. The bitten apple is the person they are fated to be with.
Water divination is a very similar to some of that of the apple. It is said that if stared in then the future mate will appear. Another technique used with water is dripping hot wax into a cauldron to find out what the mate will do as a job. An example of this would be if a ship showed up he would be a sailor, if you were to be a widow, a coffin. These are just a few of the many different divination techniques used during these times that now have turned into party games.
As the Christians rose to power they tried many things to get the Pagans to convert. The main things they did was build churches on their holy sites and take over their holidays. The two main Christianizing holidays that tried to overtake Samhain was All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day. All Saint’s Day is associated with Pope Boniface IV who decided to honor Christians who had been murdered without official recognition for their faith. Then Pope Gregory III reintroduced it in the seventh century. Because the Pagans wouldn’t give up October 31st. Even though the Christians tried to overtake Samhain, harvest festivals still took place in Europe. To try and corporate with the Pagans, Pope Gregory IV gave official authorization in 835 C.E. and included all saints. “This day was to honor God and the saints, known and unknown.”(Ravenwolf 19) Even though the Christians wished for this holiday to be somber Pagans still celebrated. One way they Christianized this holiday was by “convincing the people that the need-fires, kindled in honor of the cycle of the seasons, would instead keep away the devil.”(Ravenwolf 19) They also turned fairies into demons.
As for All Soul’s Day it lands on November 2nd. “In the Roman Catholic Church, this was the day to offer prayers and alms to assist the souls of those departed who managed to get stuck in Purgatory. All Soul’s Day became a general celebration among the European peoples and an excuse to revive many of their Pre-Christian folk customs. The feast day was approved by Pope Sylvester II around 1000 C.E.”(Ravenwolf 20) Trick-or-treating plays an important role in this holiday. A popular Medieval practice was to make soul cakes “simple bread desserts with a currant topping. In a custom called souling, children would go door-to-door begging for the cakes. For every cake a child collected, they would have to say a prayer for the dead relatives of the person who gave it to them. These prayers would help the relatives find their way out of Purgatory.”(How things work www)
Through all the changes that this holiday, we call Halloween, has gone through, its roots can still be seen. The format or beliefs have been changed to fit the religion and times but it’s still a day for the dead and new beginnings. So call it Samhain, All Saint’s Day, All Soul’s Day, or even Halloween, just remember to leave food out for the dead, light your Jack-o-lantern to keep Jack away, and embrace your dark mischievous side.