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Samhainn, Samhuinn, Oidhche Shamhainn, Oidhche Shamhna, Hallowtide,
Hallowmas, Hallowe'en. This is one of the seasons when innumerable
mystic rites are practiced. Supposed to be from 'samh-f huin,'
summer-end.
Alexander Carmicheal, Carmina Gadelica, vol. 2, 1900
The pagan Hallowe'en at the end of summer was a time of grief for the
decline of the sun's glory, as well as a harvest festival of
thanksgiving to him for having ripened the grain and fruit.
Ruth Edna Kelley, The Book of Hallowe'en, 1919
The History of
Halloween or Samhain
How did Samhain and Halloween come to be?
From Jack Santino for LOC, for About.com
Halloween or Samhain had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian
Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic people, who were once found all
over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their
calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our
present calendar. The date marked the beginning of winter. Since they
were pastoral people, it was a time when cattle and sheep had to be
moved to closer pastures and all livestock had to be secured for the
winter months. Crops were harvested and stored. The date marked both an
ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle.
Samhain
The festival observed at this time was called Samhain (pronounced
Sah-ween). It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic
year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any
other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with
the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during
the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice
animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the
dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the
living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies,
and demons--all part of the dark and dread.
How Samhain Became Halloween?
Samhain became the Halloween we are familiar with when Christian
missionaries attempted to change the religious practices of the Celtic
people. In the early centuries of the first millennium A.D., before
missionaries such as St. Patrick and St. Columcille converted them to
Christianity, the Celts practiced an elaborate religion through their
priestly caste, the Druids, who were priests, poets, scientists and
scholars all at once. As religious leaders, ritual specialists, and
bearers of learning, the Druids were not unlike the very missionaries
and monks who were to Christianize their people and brand them evil
devil worshippers.
Pope Gregory the First
As a result of their efforts to wipe out "pagan" holidays, such as
Samhain, the Christians succeeded in effecting major transformations in
it. In 601 A.D. Pope Gregory the First issued a now famous edict to his
missionaries concerning the native beliefs and customs of the peoples he
hoped to convert. Rather than try to obliterate native peoples' customs
and beliefs, the pope instructed his missionaries to use them: if a
group of people worshipped a tree, rather than cut it down, he advised
them to consecrate it to Christ and allow its continued worship.
In terms of spreading Christianity, this was a brilliant concept and it
became a basic approach used in Catholic missionary work. Church holy
days were purposely set to coincide with native holy days. Christmas,
for instance, was assigned the arbitrary date of December 25th because
it corresponded with the mid-winter celebration of many peoples.
Likewise, St. John's Day was set on the summer solstice.
Good Vs Evil - Druids, Christians, and Samhain
Samhain, with its emphasis on the supernatural, was decidedly pagan.
While missionaries identified their holy days with those observed by the
Celts, they branded the earlier religion's supernatural deities as evil,
and associated them with the devil. As representatives of the rival
religion, Druids were considered evil worshippers of devilish or demonic
gods and spirits. The Celtic underworld inevitably became identified
with the Christian Hell.
The effects of this policy were to diminish but not totally eradicate
the beliefs in the traditional gods. Celtic belief in supernatural
creatures persisted, while the church made deliberate attempts to define
them as being not merely dangerous, but malicious. Followers of the old
religion went into hiding and were branded as witches.
Feast of All Saints
The Christian feast of All Saints was assigned to November 1st. The day
honored every Christian saint, especially those that did not otherwise
have a special day devoted to them. This feast day was meant to
substitute for Samhain, to draw the devotion of the Celtic peoples, and,
finally, to replace it forever. That did not happen, but the traditional
Celtic deities diminished in status, becoming fairies or leprechauns of
more recent traditions.
The old beliefs associated with Samhain never died out entirely. The
powerful symbolism of the traveling dead was too strong, and perhaps too
basic to the human psyche, to be satisfied with the new, more abstract
Catholic feast honoring saints. Recognizing that something that would
subsume the original energy of Samhain was necessary, the church tried
again to supplant it with a Christian feast day in the 9th century. This
time it established November 2nd as All Souls Day -a day when the living
prayed for the souls of all the dead. But, once again, the practice of
retaining traditional customs while attempting to redefine them had a
sustaining effect: the traditional beliefs and customs lived on, in new
guises.
All Saints Day - All Hallows
All Saints Day, otherwise known as All Hallows (hallowed means
sanctified or holy), continued the ancient Celtic traditions. The
evening prior to the day was the time of the most intense activity, both
human and supernatural. People continued to celebrate All Hallows Eve as
a time of the wandering dead, but the supernatural beings were now
thought to be evil. The folk continued to propitiate those spirits (and
their masked impersonators) by setting out gifts of food and drink.
Subsequently, All Hallows Eve became Hallow Evening, which became
Hallowe'en--an ancient Celtic, pre-Christian New Year's Day in
contemporary dress.
Many supernatural creatures became associated with All Hallows. In
Ireland fairies were numbered among the legendary creatures who roamed
on Halloween. An old folk ballad called "Allison Gross" tells the story
of how the fairy queen saved a man from a witch's spell on Halloween.
Allison Gross
O Allison Gross, that lives in yon tower
the ugliest witch int he North Country...
She's turned me into an ugly worm
and gard me toddle around a tree...
But as it fell out last Hallow even
When the seely [fairy] court was riding by,
the Queen lighted down on a gowany bank
Not far from the tree where I wont to lie...
She's change me again to my own proper shape
And I no more toddle about the tree.
In old England cakes were made for the wandering souls, and people went
"a' soulin'" for these "soul cakes." Halloween, a time of magic, also
became a day of divination, with a host of magical beliefs: for
instance, if persons hold a mirror on Halloween and walk backwards down
the stairs to the basement, the face that appears in the mirror will be
their next lover.
Halloween - Celtic Day of the Dead
Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient
Celtic day of the dead. Halloween is a holiday of many mysterious
customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind it. The
wearing of costumes, for instance, and roaming from door to door
demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few
centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of
the dead were out and around, along with fairies, witches, and demons.
Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them. As the
centuries wore on, people began dressing like these dreadful creatures,
performing antics in exchange for food and drink. This practice is
called mumming, from which the practice of trick-or-treating evolved. To
this day, witches, ghosts, and skeleton figures of the dead are among
the favorite disguises. Halloween also retains some features that harken
back to the original harvest holiday of Samhain, such as the customs of
bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, as well as the fruits, nuts,
and spices cider associated with the day.
Modern Halloween
Today Halloween is becoming once again and adult holiday or masquerade,
like mardi Gras. Men and women in every disguise imaginable are taking
to the streets of big American cities and parading past grinningly
carved, candlelit jack o'lanterns1, re-enacting customs with a lengthy
pedigree. Their masked antics challenge, mock, tease, and appease the
dread forces of the night, of the soul, and of the otherworld that
becomes our world on this night of reversible possibilities, inverted
roles, and transcendency. In so doing, they are reaffirming death and
its place as a part of life in an exhilarating celebration of a holy and
magic evening. |