The True History of Halloween
Ah, Halloween! The nip in the air, the fragrance of
wood-smoke on the breeze, the hordes of little ghosties
and ghoulies stomping around the neighborhood -- it all
comes together to lift my spirits and make me optimistic
about the seasons to come. You see, that's been the intent
of Halloween all along, despite its modern characteristics.
The history of Halloween began, in ages past, as a simple
harvest holiday: a celebration of a bountiful year, and a
hope that the year yet born would be at least as productive
as the one past.
The True History of Halloween
Though few people realize it as they're slapping creepy
holiday address labels onto their scary party invitations
and carving jack-o'-lanterns to look like bats or witches,
the Halloween we celebrate today is a curious combination
of the old and the new. Its roots are ancient, beginning
with traditions celebrated by the pre-Christian Celts who
once inhabited the British Isles.
The ancient Celts divided
the year into two parts: Beltane, the growing season, and
Samhain, which literally means "summer's end."
Samhain (pronounced "Sow-en") was a time for celebration, a
final feast in defiance of winter's hardships. Back then, it
mostly involved eating a lot, cleaning the household,
extinguishing the hearth fires and restarting them in a
gesture of renewal, commemorating those who had passed away
during the year, and dancing around a communal bonfire.
The True History of Halloween
Many Wiccan groups still practice these types of celebration
rituals today during Samhain festivals. And let's just dispel
the grossly misunderstood notion that Wiccan's are evil.
Quite the contrary! While many Wiccans do refer to themselves
as "witches", they do NOT worship the Devil or any other evil
deity for that matter. The vast majority of Wiccan practices
can be characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly
feelings which they derive from nature oriented practices
derived from pre-Christian religions.
The Wiccan Rede
(pronounced "reed") is a saying that was formulated to sum
of the ethics of the Neo-Pagan religion Wicca. There are
many variations of the Rede and one of the most common is,
"An' it harm none, do what ye will". As you can see
the Wiccan Rede is very similar to the Golden Rule, a belief
found in nearly every religion – "Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you."
The True History of Halloween
The history of Halloween we know today is actually a Christian
creation. It all started in the 800s, when the Catholic Church
merged two existing Roman festivals called Feralia and
Pomona's Day with Samhain, in a successful attempt to replace
all three. Pomona's Day was originally a harvest festival in
honor of the Roman goddess of fruits and trees; this may
explain the tradition of bobbing for apples. Feralia was a
day for mourning and remembering the dead.
The True History of Halloween
Christians began celebrating All Saints Day on November 1,
with observances beginning at sunset the night before. Among
other things, people dressed in costumes as Christian saints
to scare away evil spirits, and then went door-to-door,
begging for food. Sound familiar? Later on All Soul's Day
(a holiday commemorating the dead who were not saints) was
added to the mix on November 2.
Celebrants took to going from
house to house asking for little soul cakes (currant buns) in
exchange for praying for the souls of a household's dead.
The True History of Halloween
By 1500 AD, All Saints and All Soul's Days had evolved into
Hallow Time (October 31-November 2), with most of the
celebrations occurring the night before All Hallows Day —
All Hallows Eve. It wasn't long before "All Hallows Eve"
evolved into "Hallowe'en."
Information on
The True History of Halloween
was found on the
All About Halloween, LLC website.
Facts About Halloween
- The word “witch” comes from the Old English
wicce, meaning “wise woman.” In fact,
wiccan were highly respected people at one time.
According to popular belief, witches held one of their
two main meetings, or sabbats, on Halloween night.
- The first Jack O’Lanterns were actually made from turnips.
- Halloween is the second highest grossing commercial holiday
after Christmas.
- The owl is a popular Halloween image. In Medieval Europe,
owls were thought to be witches, and to hear an owl's call
meant someone was about to die.
Facts About Halloween
- According to Irish legend, Jack O’Lanterns are named after
a stingy man named Jack who, because he tricked the devil
several times, was forbidden entrance into both heaven
and hell. He was condemned to wander the Earth, waving
his lantern to lead people away from their paths.
- Trick-or-treating evolved from the ancient Celtic tradition
of putting out treats and food to placate spirits who
roamed the streets at Samhain, a sacred festival that
marked the end of the Celtic calendar year.
- Black and orange are typically associated with Halloween.
Orange is a symbol of strength and endurance and, along
with brown and gold, stands for the harvest and autumn.
Black is typically a symbol of death and darkness and
acts as a reminder that Halloween once was a festival that
marked the boundaries between life and death.
Facts About Halloween
- Children are more than twice as likely to be killed in
a pedestrian/car accident on Halloween than on any
other night.
- Because the movie Halloween (1978) was on such a
tight budget, they had to use the cheapest mask they
could find for the character Michael Meyers, which
turned out to be a William Shatner Star Trek mask.
- Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween. It sometimes presents
itself with related phobias, such as phasmophobia (fear of ghosts),
wiccaphobia (fear of witches), and nuctophobia (fear of darkness).
These Facts About Halloween
are from the 67 Spooky Halloween Facts list found at:
Fact Retriever website.
