Deciphering the Origins of Halloween

When you think of Halloween does your mind race back to “trick or treat” and thoughts of black cats, witches, ghosts and everything frightening?   Where did these traditions come from?   Their origins stem back in time to the land of the Celts who lived in Northern France, Ireland and Scotland.  These people depended on the land for their living.  As the days grew shorter, it was time to bring in the harvest and prepare the larder for another cold dark season.  For them this was the end of the year, now the harvest was in and everything was done for another season.  It was time for New Years, October 31, called Samhain (pronounced: sow- wen) named after their god of death.   At this time the veil between death and life was very fine and the dead came to walk amongst them.  They were not afraid of their ancestral spirits, but honoured and revered them.   To appease the spirits of the dead they created ways of honouring them.  It was these customs that were handed down through centuries, changed during Roman times and became the traditions we call Halloween.   

Ghosts

What would a Halloween be without ghosts?  Children dress up as ghosts and the old ghost stories are pulled out of the attic for another year.  Where did the idea of the ghost come from?   The Celtic people believed that the veil of death was thinnest on October 31 as this was the end of summer and the beginning of winter when the dead could easily come through the veil and walk the world freely.

Costume

What child or adult doesn’t love to dress up as a character on Halloween?   Although some people opt for the animal, prince or witches costumes some others opt for a scarier look.   During the time of the Celts the Druid Priest and other members of the community would dress in animal heads and skins.  They would build huge bonfires where they would sacrifice animals and crops to the dead while telling each others fortunes. 

“Trick or Treat”

Oh, how well we know those words.  Every year since we were children we’d look forward to running up to doors and shouting “trick or treat”.  The trick was usually just a threat with no malice in it.  The Celtic tradition was for the poor and the children to go from door to door praying and singing for the souls of the dearly departed.  As they went from door to door the people would give them a soul cake and fruit.  Each soul cake that was eaten represented the soul leaving purgatory.