Goblins, Ghosts, Vampires, Frankenstein’s Monster, Skeleton’s, zombies, spiders, Black Cats, Witches.  Halloween is a hodgepodge of ideas.  Many people think that the origin is some sort of pagan devil worshipping day.  A day when demons walked the earth, Witches are at their height of power.  A day where someone who wanders off alone could easily fall prey to a vampire, werewolf or revenant.  That is the fantasy of Halloween. 

But what about the true history and folklore?  How did the current Americanized version of Halloween come about?  The version where a pagan holiday has turned into a 6 Billion dollar a year industry that is only eclipsed by Christmas for how much one day out a year brings in.

♦  Samhain

The earliest roots of Halloween are based on Samhain.  It had nothing to do with ghosts or spirits, but was a Harvest festival. – Samhain translates to Summers End-  Since it was also the LAST harvest festival it was the “dark” festival.  Celebrating both the harvest and the oncoming Winter and “darkness”.

♦  Festival of the Dead.

Over time Samhain became a little bit of a festival for the dead.  Since it was the end of summer and beginning of winter on the ancient calendar it was considered the time when the barrier between the worlds was thinnest.  This was not considered to be a scary thing.  The dead were not to be feared, but to be honored.

♦  Time changes everything

Overtime many of these beliefs began to change.  As Christianity began to morph many of the pagan beliefs Samhain influenced and changed the Christian All Hallows Eve as much as All Hallows eve morphed the view of Samhain. 

♦  The traditions:  Costumes

The idea of costumes came as Samhain revelers began to be influenced Christianity and a fear of the undead.  Since the “walls to the spirit world” were thin, people would dress up so that no spirits would know they were actually humans.

♦  The traditions:  Jack-o-Lantern

The Jack-o-Lantern comes from a folktale.  A mean man named Jack tricks the devil one day and makes the devil promise to not take him to hell.  When he dies he is not accepted into Heaven.  The devil then casts him out of Hell to walk the world in darkness.  When he complains he cannot find his way in the dark the devil gives him a coal of hellfire to help light his way.  He hollows out a turnip (pumpkins came much later) and makes the first, Jack-o-Lantern, and proceeds to walk the earth.

♦  The traditions:  Trick or Treating

Before the Feast of Samhain all of the poor from the villages would go to ask for food from the rich lords manors.  The lords would give them food to keep the “spirits” happy and ultimately avoid being, “tricked”.

The day has changed a lot since its inception.  I think that an ancient Celt might still realize that Halloween was a version of their Samhain, so as mainstreamed as it has become it still retains a little bit of its pagan roots.

♦A final interesting note.

Never be smug in assuming there is not some grain of truth in the ancient myths of Halloween.    The ancient Aztecs had  a similar notion of a day to celebrate the dead, because of their proximity to our world on a special day.  This day was not Oct 31st, but a very close date.  Nov 2nd  and has since morphed into the festival  “Dia de los Muerte”  (day of the dead) which happens on November 2nd in many Latin American countries.  Asian and Africa are also said to have similar historical days when the dead are uneasy.

When you are out this Halloween look over your should and make sure the spirits are not walking, because you simply never know.