Origins of Halloween
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Beginning somewhere around 800 BC, The Celts celebrated “Samhain, according to the book entitled “The Celts” by Nora Chadwick. Samhain is a festival to recognize the end of summer. The Celtic celebrated Samhain near the end of our month of October, which was the end of the year for them. It often involved a big feast because it was the end of harvest also. The Celts believed that the veil between this world and the next was thinnest at this time of year. Friends and relatives who had died would often return, with their souls inhabiting an animal – often a black cat. Black Cats have remained a symbol of Halloween even today. In celebration of the recently completed harvest, Celts would give offerings of food to the Gods. They often went from door to door to collect food to donate to their deities. Also, young Celts would ask the townspeople for kindling and wood, and take it to top of the hill for the Samhain bonfire. These are the two possible origins of the modern “trick or treating” ritual. Samhain was a fire festival. Sacred bonfires were lit on the tops of hills in honor of the Gods. The townspeople would take an ember from the bonfire to their home and re-light the fire in their family hearth. The ember would usually be carried in a holder, like a turnip or gourd. The Celts felt nervous about walking home in the dark on account of the evil spirits. They dressed up in costumes and carved scary faces in their ember holders. They hoped that the spirits would be frightened and not bother them. This is why we carve pumpkins and children dress up for Halloween.
For the next eight centuries, the activities going on at the end of October began to change. According to website tartans.com, the term “Jack-o-lantern” came from an Irish folk tale of the 18th century. Jack was mischievous Irishman that had tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree. He then cut a cross symbol in the tree trunk, thus trapping the Devil in the branches. At his death, he was unable to gain access to Heaven because of his meanness and the Devil would not allow him into Hell because of the apple tree incident. He was forced to walk the earth endlessly but the devil took pity on him and gave him a piece of coal to light his path. Jack put the coal inside a hollowed-out turnip that he had been eating. This is the reason we light “jack-o-lantern” pumpkins on Halloween night. Apples have long been associated with female deities, and with immortality, resurrection, and knowledge. One reason is that if an apple is cut through its equator, it will reveal a five-pointed star outlined at the center of each hemisphere. This was a pentagram — a Goddess symbol among the Gypsies, Celts, and Egyptians. Unmarried people would attempt to take a bite out of an apple bobbing in a pail of water, or suspended on a string. The first person to do so was believed to be the next to marry. This is where the ritual of “bobbing for apples” originated. All Saints Day was a holiday to recognize the saints who were without their own day, and to celebrate saints that the Church had failed to recognize. It originally was held on May 13, but was moved to November 1, possibly to distract Christians from celebrating Samhain. Halloween was originally called All Hallows Eve which means the evening before All Saints Day. “Hallow” is an Old English word for “saint”.
Starting in the 20th century through present day, Halloween has become a major folk holiday in the US and Canada. TrickÐ-or-Treaters