1970 Words A festival at harvest time goes back nearly 3,000 years. October 31st was the last day of the year in the pagan calendar and there were three reasons for celebration. It was time to say good-bye to Summer, welcome Winter and remember the dead.

Every October 31st children in America dress up in macabre costumes and proceed ritualistically with their age old custom of “trick or treat.” Bobbing for apples at parties, carving out turnips and pumpkins to make lanterns and illuminating them with burning candles.

In recent years this children’s ritual has spread across the Atlantic to the UK and the Halloween celebrations seem to be getting more popular as each year passes. Orange and black are the dominant colors to decorate rooms at Halloween parties, reflecting the colors of the costumes worn.

But why do we associate these colors with October 31st and why do children celebrate as they do? Just how did this pagan ritual become such a celebration today and how did it all begin?
The American periodical Common Boundary dates the beginning of Halloween to between 1000 and 10 BC and the Celtic Druid priests. It was the time of the year when Baal, the Celtic god of Spring and Summer, ended his reign and that of Samhain, the feared Lord of the Dead, began.

This date has had many names. Samhain, November Eve, Nutcracker Night, so-called because youngsters put nuts in the hearth to see if their sweethearts were true to them ( if the nuts burned gently all was well but if they burst open the sweetheart was untrue) and now, in later years, Halloween (All Hallows Eve). But no matter which name is used the same ritualistic beginnings apply to them all.

Between Two Worlds

Celtic mythology that it is the time when the universe is suspended. The dividing line between the quick and the dead is removed, allowing all divine beings and spirits to move freely among men – to interfere in their affairs, sometimes with mischief and violence.

Samhain was known to the Druid priests as the god of the dead and on the evening of October 31st and during the day of November 1st he would control all spirits of the dead. He would allow them to lie peacefully at rest or make them frantic, frightening everyone in the world.

On the night of October 31st, Samhain would assemble all souls who had died that year and place them into the bodies of animals to punish them for their sins. The greatest sinners were placed were placed in the bodies of the lowest animals. Thus, during this time of the Druids festival, the spirits of the dead put great fear into the hearts of men and women.

But the Druid priests who practiced mass sacrifices, not only men and women but of children too, were the cause of a greater fear for the people. The latter would be herded into giant wicker cages often fashioned in the shape of Samhain, the “wicker man.”

At a signal from the high priest the massive structures were torched. The priests would then commence their sacrificial thanksgiving feast around the “blazing bonfires” as every living person imprisoned inside the wicker cages – man, woman and child – was reduced to ashes.

The Celtic day began at Sunset to the following Sunset, so the Samhain festival began on the eve of November 1st when the souls of the departed revisited their old homes in order to get warmth from the fire and partake of the food and drink laid out for them by their kinsfolk.

All Hallows marked the beginning of Winter and the end of the old year; the night when the dead stalked the countryside. The Celtic people put out food and drink for the ghosts believing that during Samhain the dead would play tricks on them, causing panic and devastation everywhere.

The mischievous ghosts had to be appeased and it was believed that providing food and drink to the visiting spirits would satisfy them and they would leave the people alone. This is said to be the foundation of the modern day practice of “trick or treat.”

It was also believed by the Celts that those who had passed away during the previous year had transformed into animals, so at Sunset on the sacred night they all dressed up as animals and at the following Sunrise paraded at the edge of the village, hoping to lead the spirits into paradise.

Samhain Fires

Many Halloween customs originate from the Celtic Samhain ceremonies when bonfires were lit on hilltops to keep the evening lighter as the Sun went down in the belief that this would prevent the Samhain god of the dead growing stronger as the light failed. All fires were extinguished in homes and re-lit from the bonfires which honored the new year.

In some districts the people danced merrily around huge hillside bonfires in order to keep the evil spirits away. Farmers would light torches from the bonfires and carry them around their farms to ward off evil, while others would carry big bundles of blazing straw to the top of the nearest hill and throw it in the air.

Others would throw stones, vegetables, fruit and nuts into the bonfires to scare off evil spirits let loose by Samhain. It was thought that if a man threw a stone into the bonfire and it was not there in the morning, that man would die during the following year. If a young couple threw nuts into the bonfire and these exploded, that couple would quarrel throughout their marriage.

Once the bonfires had died down, the people returned to their homes and feasted on such goodies as seed cakes and roasted apples washed down with plenty of spiced ale to complete the Samhain festivities.

Romance Influence

During the Roman occupation the ceremony of Halloween became infused with other pagan celebrations and the original ceremonies were lost. Most Celtic rituals were allowed by the Romans but human sacrifice was forbidden. Over the years some Roman customs were incorporated into the Samhain ceremonies.

The Romans worshipped Pomona goddess of the harvest who represented bounty and fertility. She was always shown seated on a basket of fruit and flowers with a horn of plenty at her feet and a crown of apples on her head.

The annual festival honoring Pomona was celebrated at the time of the Samhain festivities, so it was only a matter of time before the two became integrated. As the apple was a fruit sacred to Pomona, the Samhain customs developed many divinatory games involving it; probably the best known and certainly the most popular being “bobbing for apples” in a water vessel.

All Hallows

Originally, All Hallows or All Saints Day fell much earlier in the Church calendar, on May 13th. Pope Gregory III was responsible for moving it to November 1st in a vain attempt to Christianize the pagan festival of the dead.

Churches staged pageants to celebrate All Hallows with everyone dressing as patron saints or demons, hoping to frighten away real demons. But the still mainly pagan populace simply moved their festive celebrations to the previous evening – All Hallows Eve or Halloween.

Halloween arrived in the USA via millions of Irish immigrants who left Ireland because of the potato famine in 1848. They called Halloween Oidche Shamhna (Night of Samhain) just as had their forefathers and, because of the American Freedom of Religion code, were able to revive their original ancestral observances.

They discovered the pumpkin made an ideal substitute for the carved out potato or turnip jack-o’-lantern used to scare off evil spirits. Later, children began to use the jack-o’-lantern to light up the Halloween and the pumpkin virtually became the modern symbol of this festival in the States.

The lantern is a memorial to Jack, a vile and crafty Irish villain who was so nasty that, according to legend , the good souls in heaven would have nothing to do with him. Even the Devil himself supposedly threw Jack out because he used to play tricks on him.

Discarded by the good and bad everywhere, Jack roamed the Earth grasping a hollowed out rotten potato with a flickering light inside to keep him warm, looking for a resting place. During recent years the American traditional pumpkin has been adopted by UK children as the jack-o’-lantern although in some parts of these islands the swede or turnip is still used (usually as second best).

The traditional Halloween colors of orange and black are strongly believed to have Celtic origins: orange being associated with Autumn harvest and black being the symbol of death. Trick or treat began with small groups of peasant farmers would go from door to door demanding some foodstuffs for the village Halloween festivities.

Such offerings were collected by the authority of Muck Olla the ancient god of Irish clergy. People who gave freely were praised and promised prosperity, while meaner souls who gave little or nothing had awful threats thrust upon them.

There was another custom related to trick or treat. On All Souls Day the poor would call from door to door begging food and if they were given specially made sweets they would promise to pray for the dead in those families who were generous. Gradually with the passing years, this custom was adopted by children at Halloween.

Black cats and witches are also strongly associated in the public’s mind with Halloween. According to Celtic myth, black cats were once people on Earth who had been changed into these creatures through bad magic; however, if silver ropes were tied to them, it was believed they would protect the church treasures. A mixture of Catholic traditions and ancient pagan superstitions led, over time, to the black cat becoming the witch’s companion in fairy tales – and in some people’s minds too!

As time passed and the “new” religion superseded the old, the original rites and rituals that were so much part of everyday life all but disappeared. The traditional festivals are still celebrated in certain areas, it is true, though many of these have been renamed or have been absorbed and adapted in line with Christian principles.

Children’s Games

Traditional annual parades held in towns and villages gradually evolved into a children’s parade and only they dressed up in fancy costumes. Finally the ritual of appeasing spirits disappeared altogether.

Preparing a Halloween party for children between the ages of 5 and 13 years is described in an old children’s encyclopedia as follows. “If as it becomes dark the lights are turned out and toy spiders are dangled around, some smaller children may go berserk with fear and nervousness. Compromise with lighted candles and low lights. An open fire will help.

Ghoulish masks and an oooooh! type of spookiness will give children up to the age of eight enough enjoyment. Pin black cats and witches to the curtains; hang orange ribbons and black crepe paper from the light fittings.

And don”t forget to hollow out turnips, making them safe to house lighted candles. A big pumpkin with grotesque face and light inside placed strategically in the hall to welcome guests. Ask guests to dress up and wear masks.

But as today’s children dress up each year on October 31st in their ghoulish costumes parading as ghosts, devils and witches, as they bob for apples at parties and later carry their jack-o’-lanterns gaily through the streets exclaiming “trick or treat” they are innocent of the ancient pagan rituals which their actions imitate; the origins have been lost in time.

There is no doubt that, except for a few pagan groups dotted here and there around the world today, Halloween is mainly for children. But the shades of Samhain still lie rooted deep within its rituals.