Let’s Return to a Good, Old-fashioned Halloween
Halloween is one of those kid-centered holidays that causes a lot of worry among serious-minded adults: Evangelical Christians insist that it emphasizes the Occult and New Age Religion, progressive editorials cite it as an example of rampant commercialism; dentists warn that all that candy rots the teeth, and school teachers dread the next day’s hyper activity.
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
Halloween, of course, is a relatively new celebration for most cultures with very ancient roots: The commercialization of Halloween began with its widespread trick-or-treating immediately after World War II in the United States. My mother as a 21-year-old bride in 1946 remembers having to scrounge for pennies, pencils, and other trinkets to give out to children who made their way to her door that year since growing up in North Texas, she only knew Halloween as an occasion for pranks pulled by teenage boys, tipping over out houses and doing all kinds of mischief.
Halloween, however, got its start as the Celtic festival of Samhain, the Lord of the Dead in Celtic lands, a night where disembodied souls returned to earth as part of a harvest festival that started a new year. Thus, the custom of trick-or-treating began when groups began going door-to-door collecting for a village harvest feast. Both the Irish and the Scots also carved turnips with scary faces, and conquering Romans brought the custom of bobbing for apples and drinking hot cider to the British Isles. In 835, Pope Gregory tried to do for Halloween what moving Christ’s birth to the time of the winter solstice and Saturnalia did–turn a pagan festival into a Christian celebration, honoring the hallowed dead.
If October 31st was All Hallow’s Eve, and the first day of November was a day to honor Christian martyrs, the Pope having moved it from May 13th to November 1st, then November 2nd was All Saint’s Day, a day to honor all dead Christians as departed saints. In Mexico, this day is still celebrated as El Dia de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead”–a time when families tend the graves of their loved ones, picnicking at the grave site. Except for Mexico, however, most cultures conveniently forget about the rest of this series of feast days that honor the dead. Contemporary citizens of the United Kingdom, for example, bemoan Halloween as a crass American import.
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