With Hallowe'en right around the corner, I thought it might be interesting to look into the history of the holiday. A holiday which encourages kids to dress in scary outfits, carve pumpkins, and go from house to house trick or treating. Where did these practices develop from and why is Hallowe'en celebrated in this fashion?
Arguments are made both for the relationship between the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain and against it; however, a quick Google search told me the majority of people have found it is directly related.
Samhain was celebrated on the first of November by this ethno-linguistic group as the first day of the New Year. In essence they saw the cold overcome their world, plants begin to die as winter set in, and it was seen as the deadline for crops to be brought in.
Seeing the cycle of the seasons change, the cycle which was ultimately that of life and death, held supernatural power to this group of people. It was the time when the souls of those who had passed that year would be travelling to another realm.
This meant on the eve of Samhain multitudes of spirits were traversing the land and the divide between the other side was at its weakest allowing demons to come into this world. It was the time when a bridge was extended between one year and the next; thus, being seen as bridge between the world of the living and that of the spirits.
What were people to do to appease these wondering souls and supernatural beings demanding tribute? The idea of giving gifts including food and drink to people dressed in masks imitating the spirits seemed to be decided upon.
From here Christianity began to spread and in order to make pagan's more accepting of the religion Pope Gregory the First issued an edict telling missionaries to use these pagan beliefs in their favour. To this day many Christian holidays parallel pagan "holy days," including Christmas. Christ's birth was given Dec. 25 to align with midwinter celebrations of pagan's, while it is unknown when Jesus was born. Many have theorized Jesus was actually born in the spring.
This same absorption of pagan beliefs continued as the Celtic underworld became associated with the Christian Hell and the Feast of All Saints was created in place of Samhain. The Feast of All Saints, or All Hallows from the Middle English "halwe" meaning saint, was established to celebrate any saint who did not have their own specific day set aside for them.
The pagan beliefs were never completely forgotten as had been the intention and the idea that All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saints Day, remained to be the night with the most supernatural activity remained intact.
All Saints Day never really caught on and it was eventually forgotten, while All Hallows Eve remained eventually becoming Hallowe'en. Today Hallowe'en is still associated with harvest as many fall decorations join the spooky ones in people's windows and across people's yards. This includes the establishment of the Jack-o'-lantern, the carving of a pumpkin harvested to ward away evil spirits, though today it is just something fun to do as a family.
The Jack-o'-lantern developed through the tale of Stingy Jack. He was too evil to get into Heaven, but had tricked the devil into never accepting his soul into Hell. He would wander the world of the living as a spirit forever. As he was turned away from Hell the devil tossed him a few embers, which would never burn out. He then placed these into the vegetable he had been eating to make a lantern. The original Jack-o'-lantern's were actually made out of turnips because pumpkins were not available until the discovery of the New World, North America. Here pumpkins were more plentiful than turnips and Irish immigrants switched to pumpkins upon arriving in North America.
From here the holiday was popularized and has come to be a fun way to spend an evening dressing up, carving pumpkins, and trick or treating.
