Halloween is a popular festival celebrated across the world, recognised for its traditions of ghost stories, pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating. But where did this mysterious celebration come from? How far back into history does our fascination with the macabre reach? The story begins with 'Samhain', a pagan festival celebrated during autumn…
Samhain
Halloween's roots derive from the pagan celebration of Samhain (pronounced 'sow-win') which is thought to have originated up to 5,000 years ago in the Celtic communities of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter and was believed to be the time of year when the barrier between the earthly and spiritual realms was the thinnest, meaning that ghosts were able to pass through into the human world.
Ancient Samhain Traditions
In ancient times, the Celts celebrated four fire festivals to mark each quarter of the year. Samhain was the most notable of these, signifying the halfway point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.
During Samhain, people let the hearth fires in their homes burn out as they tended to the harvest. Once their work was finished, the community, alongside Druid priests, lit a large wheel on fire. This communal fire was said to symbolise the sun. People then took a flame from this burning centre point and used it to relight their hearths back home. Prayers were made during this ceremony and cattle were said to be sacrificed. Samhain was a sacred time for anything mystic, as the worldly and spiritual realms were now connected. People feared fairy creatures who were known to cause chaos so they dressed up as animals or monsters to disguise themselves from them. They also left offerings outside of their villages to keep the fairies away.
The Middle Ages and Samhain
During the Middle Ages, 'Samghnagans' became a tradition. These were bonfires which were held nearer to people's own farms with the aim of protecting families from fairies and witches. They perhaps indicate a move towards a more individual practice rather than the communal fires of ancient times.
A custom known as 'dumb supper' was developed in which families prepared food and invited their ancestors to join them for a meal. During this supper, people would update their dead relatives on the events of the past year, children would perform for the dead, and then households would leave their doors and windows open for their relatives' spirits to enter and eat the food that had been left for them overnight.
In Ireland, 'mumming' (also called 'guising') consisted of dressing up as spirits, knocking on neighbours' doors and singing songs to honour their dead relatives in return for cakes from the household. This is thought to be the possible beginnings of 'trick-or-treating'. Furthermore, in some parts of Scotland and Ireland, Samhain started to become nicknamed 'mischief night' as people started playing practical jokes on their communities. These pranks, however, were usually blamed on fairies. Maybe this was where the 'trick' part of the tradition we have today came from!
Also around this time, people began carving faces into turnips and embedding them with coal to be lit from within. These are what we now know as 'Jack-O'Lanterns'. Later on, Irish immigrants brought them over to America and switched from turnips to pumpkins, making them into the image that we recognise today.
A Deal With the Devil: The Story of the Jack-O-Lantern
The origin of the Jack-O-Lantern is a fascinating folktale of a trickster called Stingy Jack. Popular versions of this story recount a man called Jack walking home after a night of drinking only to come face to face with the Devil himself. Somehow, Jack manages to talk the Devil into climbing up a tall tree. Whilst the Devil is up the tree, Jack hastily carves a sign of the cross on the tree, preventing the Devil from being able to get back down. However, Jack ends up being persuaded by the Devil to make a deal with him. The Devil promises Jack that in return from removing the cross from the tree and allowing him to get back down, Jack will never have to be subjected to Hell in his afterlife, no matter his behaviour as a mortal. Jack agrees to this and frees the Devil from his leafy trap. The two part ways and Jack goes on to live a life filled with lots of drinking, gambling and all kinds of sin. When the time comes for Jack to die, the Devil keeps his promise, refusing Jack entry to Hell. However, due to his sinful mortal life, Jack cannot enter Heaven either. Stingy Jack becomes doomed to roam the Earth for all eternity, as a lonely soul stuck between Heaven, Hell and the mortal world. Tauntingly, the Devil chucks a burning ember at Jack, who takes it and places it inside a turnip in order to keep himself warm. Jack now forever haunts the earth with just this lantern from Hell to keep him warm. Hence, the famed Jack-O-Lantern that we all know today… Who knew pumpkin carving could have such a dramatic backstory!
Christianity and Samhain
As Christianity became more prominent within the western world, the Church made several attempts to incorporate the popular festival of Samhain into their religion to appease pagans. In the fifth century, Pope Boniface moved Samhain to 13th May and reframed it as a day to celebrate Christian saints and martyrs. However people continued to practise the pagan fire festivals of October/November. Then, in the ninth century, Pope Gregory moved the date back to November, declaring 1st November as 'All Saints' Day' and 2nd November as 'All Souls' Day'. Christian monks also began writing of human sacrifices being made during Samhain but this may have been propaganda aiming to demonise pagan practices. Despite these attempts by Christians, the paganistic elements of Samhain persisted. All Saints' Day became widely known as 'All Hallows' Mass' and thus 31st October became 'All Hallows' Eve' (which later became Halloween). Samhain was incorporated into this newly named celebration.
Samhain's Long Lasting Traditions
Samhain has survived the eroding nature of time by flexibly fitting into Halloween and compromising some of its original traditions in order to survive Christianity's invasion of Celtic land. We can see this by looking at how some of the Halloween traditions we practise today mirror those of the ancient Samhain ways: ~ During Samhain, 'soul cakes' were baked with spices and fruit and were marked with a cross. They represented the souls of loved ones who had passed away. Children visited their neighbours' houses to ask for these. In return, they would pray for the souls of the relatives of those who handed out the cakes. This tradition is very similar to what we now know as trick-or-treating and it can be inferred that it is a descendant of this pagan practice. - Bobbing for apples arose from a matchmaking Medieval tradition. One would attempt to bite from the same apple that their desired had bitten. If they bit the apple in one try, the match was destined to be successful; if it took two tries, a love would exist but only temporarily; three tries prophesied hate; and four meant nothing at all would ever happen. - For both Samhain and Halloween, people dressed up. As Christianity took over, people dressed up to protect themselves from evil spirits roaming the Earth in a very similar way as people had during Samhain. Around Europe, this became widely known as the 'dance macabre'. People would hold gatherings in their costumes, alluding to the future Halloween parties that people of the 21st century hold today.
- Scottish and Irish immigrants brought these spooky traditions over to the Americas. At the turn of the 20th century, efforts were made to alter associations of All Hallows' Eve from communicating with the dead to a more family-oriented celebration. This is thought to be when the Halloween costume party was born.
Remembering and Appreciating Our Past
As we can see, Halloween has ancient roots, possibly even predating Christianity. This festival of Samhain marked the beginning of the winter season, connecting its celebrants with the world and the passage of changing time and weather. It also brought us closer to the unseen world, to our lost loved ones and reminded us to respect the darkness and dangers that reside alongside us. Not a lot is known about paganism, since most of their traditions were shared via spoken word, and therefore not written down. But as we can see, their traditions are so powerful to have persisted through religious turmoil and years and years of societal change. Perhaps this year, as we carve our pumpkins and share our ghost stories, we can appreciate the people of the old world and their ancient gifts of tradition.
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