The Tale of All Hallows' Eve - By Karen Spring

As the month of October comes to a close, children dress up in costumes and knock on doors asking for candy.  Homes are decorated with brightly illuminated jack o’lanterns.  Ghost stories are told around fires as the autumn wind blows the crisp leaves along.  Adults and children alike indulge their social skills at parties.  It is the time for Halloween. 

Although most people assume that Halloween is a festivity either created by children or candy bar companies, think again.  Halloween is a holiday steeped in ancient pagan traditions, tailored with influences from the Catholic Church.  This day, which is celebrated on October 31, is filled with ancient customs that we still observe today in various modern practices.  

Two thousand years ago, the Celtic peoples in England , Ireland , and northern France celebrated the end of their harvest, the departure of the summer season, and the beginning of the new year on November 1. On October 31, the last day of the old year, the Celts believed that all of the people who had died during the previous 12 months could come back to walk the earth.  They called this day Samhain (pronounced sow-en, with the sow rhyming with cow).  They feared the ghosts of the dead would find and possess them, so they extinguished the fires in their homes.  Instead, they built bonfires and offered sacrifices to their pagan gods in the hopes of chasing the ghastly spirits away.  The Celts also dressed in animal skins and furs and performed all sorts of mischief, hoping that their masquerade would fool the spirits into passing them by.  They set bowls of food on their doorsteps to offer a meal without actually having to come into contact with them.  

Years later, the Romans conquered the Celtic areas and intertwined their own celebrations of honoring the dead with Samhain.  Around 800 AD, the Catholic Church added its own influences when it chose November 1 as All Hallows’ Day (later All Saints’ Day) to commemorate the Christian martyrs.  The day before All Hallows’ Day, or October 31, became known as All Hallows’ Eve and the name was later shortened to Halloween.  Two centuries later, the Church approved November 2 as All Souls’ Day, a holiday to honor all deceased persons.  On this day, the poor in the community went “souling.”  They begged at homes, asking for soul cakes.  In exchange for the currant-filled cake, the person would offer up prayers for the patron’s deceased relatives.  

It is generally thought that the Church devised the holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day to bring religious significance to the celebration of Samhain, while phasing out the pagan hold on it.  Still, the ancient observances of dressing up in costume and building bonfires continued.

Halloween evolved over the years with these different traditions and immigrants brought the customs with them when they settled in the New World .  At first, Halloween flourished only in the south, but later, the traditions spread and blended with the cultures of various groups of people.  By the mid-19^th century, Americans were dressing up in costumes and going door-to-door begging for money or food.  This became our modern version of trick or treating.  Halloween began to lose its religious heritage as more and more communities began eliminating the scary features of the holiday and turned towards a wholesome party-like atmosphere.  By the beginning of the 20^th century, Halloween parties for both children and adults had become the norm.

The jack o’lantern came about from an old Irish fairy tale.  The story is that a drunkard named Jack tricked the devil into climbing a tree.  The devil cut a deal with Jack and was allowed to come down from the tree.  Jack promised never to trick him again.  Once Jack died, he was refused entrance into heaven because of his scheming ways.  But hell didn’t want him either, so the devil offered him a small ember to light his way in the dark.  The Irish hollowed out turnips and placed candles in them when they lived in Ireland , but once they came to America , pumpkins were a better option since they were more plentiful.  

Halloween may seem a lot like child’s play, but it has been celebrated for more years than most of our other holidays.  The next time you don a scary witch costume and head out the door to a Halloween party, think of the ancient Celts.  They were doing the same thing.