I am sure most of us carved faces into pumpkins, got dressed up as our favorite characters, or wore spooky costumes. We put makeup on our faces that we wouldn’t normally wear on a daily basis. We then went door to door in our neighborhood saying “trick or treat.” We got candy that we liked and some we didn’t like, and what we didn’t like, we traded with our friends. After we checked the candy, we loaded up on sugar. This all happens during the Halloween season.
We have come to associate Halloween with scary tales and spooky stories mainly because of Hollywood movies. Just about every year, around this time, Hollywood releases a horror movie or two. Hollywood makes Halloween and the paranormal seem like it’s nothing but negative.
Halloween, to some extent, is a misunderstood holiday. There’s more to it than scary stories, movies, trick or treating, costumes, carving pumpkins, and lots of candy. There is history and true meaning behind it.
For many centuries, Halloween has been celebrated around the world and is one of the oldest holidays. The word “Halloween” has its origin in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1st is All Hallows Day or All Saints Day and is a Catholic observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on Oct. 31st. This holiday was called Samhain (Sah-win), which means “end of summer,” aka the Celtic New Year. Sunset on Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic New Year because the old year has passed, the harvest has been gathered, cattle and sheep have been brought in from the fields, and the leaves have fallen from the trees. The Earth slowly begins to die around us. This is a good time, like our official New Year, for us to look at wrapping up the old and preparing for the new in our lives.
Some of the original customs and traditions were carving the Jack O’Lanterns, bobbing for apples, divination, games, costumes, and of course trick or treating.
Carving Jack O’ Lanterns started throughout Ireland, Britain and Scotland and there is a long tradition of carving vegetables, particularly the turnip or rutabaga. When beets or turnips were used to light the Three nights of Samhain, Celts put embers in these carved out root vegetables, to chase away nasty spirits with ill intent the day before, the day of, and the day after Samhain. In Scotland, these turnip heads were meant to be frightening and threatening to scare off devilish entities said to come out at this time of year. The pumpkin Jack O’Lantern came later, since the pumpkin is native to North America. There are many folklores about the jack o’ lantern.
Divination Games for the coming year were often played. Parts of Ireland and Britain had divination games with fruits and nuts. A girl wanting to be married put the names of her suitors on nuts, and threw them into the fire. The one that cracked open would be her future husband.
The Custom of Costumes originates from European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and many people were afraid of the dark. The short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that evil ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter these ghosts when they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits.
Trick or Treating comes from when poor citizens would go door to door begging for food and families would give them pastries called soul-cakes in return for their promise to pray for the family dead relatives. This practice was referred to as going-a-souling and was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money. This eventually became trick or treating for candy.
Superstitions There are many superstitions around this time of year and one of them includes animals such as black cats. Halloween is a bewitching time of year, when the sharper psychic powers could allow you to have breakthroughs of inter-species understanding. The “familiar” of the witch or wizard is traditionally a black cat, toad, or owl and are thought to be little helpers. The indigenous North Americans used animals as messengers and scouts. In Japan, the witches have fox allies and in Africa, it’s the hyenas or baboons. This remnant of indigenous Europe has become fixed in the modern imagination. It is yet another way that Halloween reminds us of the past, when the dark mysteries and supernatural were part of everyday life. Those considered wise, were the ones who understood animal medicine, and were close intimates with these relations.
Day of the Dead & Thinning of the Veil is a time to honor the dead when the veil between the worlds is thinnest. This is a national holiday in Mexico and all federal buildings close for the day. Throughout Mexico, family and friends gather to pray for or remember family members and/or friends who have died. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods of the departed and visiting graves with these gifts. This origin is traced to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl (Mick-te-cot-cha-twal). This holiday has spread throughout the world. In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday and the Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades and at the end of the day, they also visit cemeteries to pray for the dead.
Now, according to Celtic lore, Samhain is a time when the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead become thinner, allowing spirits and other supernatural entities to pass between the worlds to interact with the living. It is the time of year when ancestors and other departed souls are especially honored. Though some cultures make offerings to the spirits all year round, Samhain in particular is a time when more elaborate offerings are made to specific ancestors. Often a meal will be prepared of the favorite foods of the family member or friend of the beloved deceased. A place is set for them at the table and traditional songs, poetry, and dances are performed to entertain them. A door or window may be opened to the west and the beloved deceased will be invited to attend. Many leave a candle or light burning in the western window to guide the dead home. For the more mystically inclined, many also see this as a time for deeply communing with the deities, especially whom the lore mentions as being particularly connected with this festival.
Spirits can contact us at any time of the year, but during this time it is especially so because of the thinness of the veil. For some who are spiritual and/or intuitive, you can feel the shift in the air. Even if you’re not yet intuitive, open your mind, and if you start to especially think of a loved one near this “thinning” time or if you have an urge to just look at pictures or you see an entity or object out of the corner of your eye, then understand that you are feeling that shift as well.
So, as you go trick or treating, or hang out with your friends, on Halloween, don’t forget to think about those who have come before us. We have it easy today with our warm homes and supermarkets to buy our food, which wasn’t the case many years ago. We owe it to our ancestors by honoring them for what they have achieved. After all, it is in the spirit of Halloween. Happy New Year!
