Most people know Halloween as coming around once a year on Oct 31st, getting candy galore, having outrageous costumes, seeing black cats, witches, ghosts, goblins, or vampires, and of course, let’s not forget the tricking or treating aspect, and let me tell you, some of those tricks are pretty……crafty, scary and realistic!
If we were to sum it up, it would be safe to say that Halloween is all about the candy and scaring the hell out of someone. Right!? I suppose you could add in that it is also a huge moneymaker on so many levels, and it isn’t only celebrated in the United States as some believe, rather worldwide, known under different names and each with its own variation of celebration.
Did You Know: Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween.
There are some that look at Halloween with nothing more than historical interest or fascination and say it was never about the candy or the costumes just as there are those that believe it all has to do with evil and devil-worshipping. Or is there more to the story? Let’s go through the ‘Stargate” and see if we can separate myth from truth.
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Contrary to popular rumors, Halloween did not find its origins in the United States. Its origin dates back roughly 2000 years and wasn’t anything like what we know or celebrate today. It made its way through many different cultures, traditions, and even religions, each adopting its own version of it. According to the Etymology of the word Halloween, it’s actually two words combined into one. “Hallow” meaning holy person, refers to the saints that are celebrated on All Saints’ Day, which is November 1. The “een” part of the word is a contraction of “eve”, meaning the evening before. Halloween is also known as Hallowe’en, Allhalloween, All Hallows’ Eve, or All Saints’ Eve.
Did You Know: Americans spend roughly $2.75 billion on candy each year. Approximately 600 million pounds of candy are sold in the U.S. each year for Halloween, with 90 million pounds of that being chocolate sold just during the week immediately preceding Halloween.
There are several historians that believe that Halloween and its customs started back in Roman times with the Feast of Pomona: There was a poem written by a man named Ovid and in this poem, he tells the story of Pomona. Pomona was the goddess of abundance in Roman mythology, she was a wood nymph and she loved caring for the Orchids. It was her passion and desire and to ensure that no harm would come to her Orchids, she enclosed herself within thus denying any man entrance. The story goes that many had tried to gain access to the Orchid, just to gaze upon her beauty, using all manner of disguises. There were 2 woodland goods that courted her relentlessly, Silvanus and Picus, but in the end, she married the god Vertumnus, who tricked her by taking the form of an old woman.
Did You Know: That according to tradition, if a person wears their clothes inside out and then walks backward on Halloween night, it is said that they will see a witch at midnight.
Then there were those that believed it got its start with the Roman festival of the dead, known as Parentalia. The Romans held their dead in great respect so it was customary for living relatives to visit family graves on the deceased’s birthday, to celebrate the day and remember the life of the departed loved one. However, February was the month of the Parentalia, the festival of the dead. The festival, which began at noon on February 13, when a vestal virgin performed the opening ritual ceremony for the dead and culminated on February 21, was essentially a private celebration of deceased family members. It was gradually extended to incorporate the dead in general. To make sure that there was no distraction or anything that could disrupt or taint the Parentalia, they would basically shut down the town. No incense burned at the alters, no fires for hearths, and because the priests barred the doors of the temples, there were no marriages performed. The city’s political life and infrastructure came to a standstill, as even the magistrates left their official togas at home and closed the courts. During this time it was believed that the dead once again rose to converse and meet with the family, and wouldn’t you know it, they would be hungry. So of course family would leave out little gifts of food for them, as a matter of fact, families did not just visit the grave, they literally hung out for 9 days. They prepared meals at the graveyards and stayed to eat with the risen. On the 21st of February, a one-day festival known as the Feralia was done in order to bring the Parentalia festival to an end. It consisted of making offerings to the graves and tombs of their relatives, like wreaths, violets, some grains, some salt, and bread soaked in red wine, to appease them and persuade them to return to the earth and dissuade them from rising up and haunting them. (Sounds like a makeshift exorcism to me…..maybe even Walking Dead?)
Did You Know: That Candy Corn was originally named “Chicken Feed”! Because corn is what was used to feed chickens, the creation was called “Chicken Feed” and the box was marked with a colorful rooster. It is also America’s least favorite candy.
Most Historians however believe that Halloween most likely stems from the Celtic festival of Samhain, a 3 day ancient Celtic pagan festival. The Celts lived mainly in what is now known as Ireland, Scotland, the U.K., and some other parts of Northern Europe. Samhain (meaning “summer’s end”) marked the end of summer and kicked off the Celtic new year. It was a time when the ‘doorways’ to the “Otherworld” opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world, becoming visible to us humans, which of course led to supernatural trickery and trouble. To appease these apparitions, sacrifices (generally of crops and animals) were burned in bonfires as protective measures. It is also noted that the Druids, (Celtic priests), thought that the presence of the spirits made it easier to predict the future. The bonfire was the ideal place to practice their fortune-telling alongside the sacrifices that were being made, as such, many of the people put on costumes, often that of animals or beasts, in hopes of confusing the spirits should they want to harm them.
Did You Know: Many people today associate bats with Halloween, the reason being also stems from these bonfires. You see, the bonfires would attract all sorts of bugs and insects, which, of course, brought the bats to enjoy a tasty meal. Folklore later emerged saying that bats were messengers of death or doom, some believed that if a bat settled in a house, that signified that a man in the family would die. If it flew around and tried to escape, then a woman in the family would die instead.
Because of its roots in pagan rituals, Christians expressed concerns that Halloween is somehow satanic. However, the Celts did not worship anything resembling the Christian devil and had no concept of it. Many historians believe that the Celtic traditions were tweaked with Christian ideas in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the pagan practices in order to help spread their new religion, thus creating many of the Halloween traditions that people know and still practice today.
Did You Know: That “Jack of the Lantern” stems from an old Irish folk tale. It tells the story of Stingy Jack, a lazy yet shrewd blacksmith who uses a cross to trap Satan. One story says that Jack tricked Satan into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there, Jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that Satan couldn’t get down. Another version states that Jack was getting chased by villagers because he stole from them. While he was running away from them, he ran into Satan, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, Jack delayed his death by tempting Satan with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told Satan to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods, later, when the coin (Satan) disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack’s wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers, and so he was trapped. In both versions, Jack lets Satan go only after he agrees to never take his soul. Jack eventually dies, and of course, Jack’s life had been sinful so he couldn’t go to heaven; and since Satan had promised not to take his soul, Jack couldn’t go to hell. With nowhere to go Jack asked how he would, as he had no light, so Satan mockingly tossed him a lump of burning coal, to light his way. Jack carved out one of his turnips, put the coal inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth looking for a resting place.
On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV established the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day, a dedication to all the Christian Martyrs. Later on, another Pope by the name of Gregory III expanded the festival to include all saints and all martyrs, thus moving the observance from May 13 to November 1. The influence of Christianity had spread to Celtic lands, where it blended with older Celtic rites, and around 1000 A.D., the church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. Historians widely believe that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with their own church-sanctioned holiday version. The celebration was similar to the Samhain, big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes, as saints, angels, and devils. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. (talk about a subtle take over).
Did You Know: Black and Orange – the two colors representing Halloween were established because black represents death and darkness, and orange represents Autumn.
Whether those who celebrate Halloween know it or not, they’re following the legacy of the ancient Celts who, with the festival of Samhain, celebrated the inevitability of death and rebirth.
Did You Know: That women would perform rituals on Halloween in hopes of finding a husband. That’s right, single women would throw apple peels over their shoulders, in hopes of seeing the initials of their future “to be” manifest out of the peel as it fell to the ground. During the festivities the single women would bob for apples, believing that the winner would marry first. Some actually believed that standing alone in a dark room, with a candle in front of a mirror, would make their future husband’s face magically appear in the mirror.
As you can see, there is more to Halloween than meets the eye. The trick is figuring out what it means to you and therein lies your treat.
