Sabbats/Holidays and Esbats > Samhain or All Hallows Eve

A little history behind Halloween

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Crystal Dragon:
[Portions of this have been excerpted from previous articles/posts I've written]

The origins of Halloween as we know it today are ironically, mostly Christian.  I find this to be hysterically funny since some of the more fundamentalist Christians are the most vocal against this (now secular) holiday.

Pagans know all about Samhain (pronounced sow-an) as a harvest festival marking the end of the Celtic year.  In the first century, after the Romans invaded the Celtic lands, some of their traditions began to creep into the yearly celebration.  The Romans would pour milk on the graves of their ancestors and leave little cakes to keep them from rising and haunting their relatives during Feralia.   And as Pagans we know that the veil between our world and those surrounding us (some refer to it as the spirit world, though I think there are many) is thinner at this time of year, further giving rise to mystery surrounding ghosts and such.  But the celebration of Samhain has very little to do with Halloween.

Historians have traced the beginnings of Halloween back to about 800 AD but prior to that, around 600 AD, the Catholic Church co-opted Lemuria, a Pagan holiday honoring the dead celebrated May 13th … the original All Saints Day.  In the ninth century, the Church moved All Saints Day to November 1st in an attempt to co-opt Samhain as well as Feralia (celebrated in late October).  About 200 years later, the Church added All Souls Day on November 2nd to further the dilution of the Pagan and Roman holidays.  The three days, Samhain, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day began to be known as Hallowmas with Samhain now being called All Hallows Evening … this eventually was shortened to Hallows Even, then Halloween.

The practice of trick-or-treat may have begun with youths going door to door offering to pray for the souls of the occupants’ passed relatives in exchange for small cakes.  The Church told its followers that enough prayers needed to be offered up to guarantee a passed soul’s passage into Heaven or they might get stuck in Purgatory.  The Church encouraged the passing out of “soul cakes” to the poor as a way of discouraging the leaving of cakes and wine for roaming spirits who might be traveling the roads on Samhain.

Bobbing for apples may be linked to the ancient Roman festival honoring Pomona, goddess of fruit and trees and her symbol is the apple.  The association of bats with Halloween may come from the bonfires the ancient Celts lit for their Samhain festival … insects are drawn to the heat and light of a fire and bats may have been attracted as well to feed on the insects.  And of course, witches and cats have a long history of being feared not just on Halloween.

The tradition of the Jack O’Lantern has roots in an old Irish myth about a man called “Stingy Jack” who is said to have tricked the Devil out of claiming his soul when he died and has walked the Earth ever since his death with a hot coal inside a turnip used as a lantern to light his way.  Irish folk used to carve faces into turnips and light them from within using candles to make their own lanterns, but with a scary face to scare off “Stingy Jack” if he came around.  Immigrants to the US found that pumpkins made a better “canvas” for these carvings than turnips did.
 
By the early 1900’s Halloween was a completely secular holiday focused around the community, games, food, and costumes and eventually morphed into the holiday we all know and love today.  It’s definitely one of my favorite holidays, topped only by Yule/Christmas. :D

© 2010-2014

dragonspring:
Interesting stuff CD.  Thanks for sharing! :D

Crystal Dragon:
I could have written much more, but wanted to keep it short.  I usually stay miles away from the History Channel, but couldn't pass up their show today on the origins of Halloween.  That got me started thinking about all this. :D

earthmuffin:
Interesting, CD. Thanks for posting. I had heard of the turnip jack-o-lanterns before.

BronwynWolf:
Next year, I am going to attempt the turnip lantern. It would fit on my altar a lot easier!

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