The Origins of Halloween

  The Origins of Halloween

 

  In recent years,  there have been a number of  pamphlets

  put out by various Christian organizations  dealing with

  the  origins of modern  day Halloween customs. Being  a

  Witch myself,  and a student  of the ancient  Celts, from

  whom we get this holiday, I  have found these pamphlets

  woefully inaccurate and  poorly researched.  In an  effort

  to  correct some  of this  erroneous information, I have

  spent several  months researching the religious life of

  the  ancient Celtic  peoples and  the survivals  of that

  religious life in modern  day  times.  Listed  below  are

  some  of  the  most commonly asked questions concerning

  the origins and  customs of Halloween.  Following the

  questions  is a  lengthy bibliography  where the  curious

  reader  can go to learn more about this holiday than space

  in this small pamphlet permits.

 

  1. Where does Halloween come from?

 

       Our  modern celebration  of Halloween  is a

       descendent of the ancient Celtic fire  festival

       called "Samhain".  The word is  pronounced "sow-in",

       with "sow" rhyming with cow.

 

  2. What does "Samhain" mean?

 

       The  Irish English  dictionary published  by the

       Irish Texts  Society defines the  word as follows:

       "Samhain, All Hallowtide,  the feast of the  dead  in

       Pagan  and  Christian  times,  signalizing the close

       of harvest  and the  initiation of  the winter

       season, lasting till May, during  which troops  (esp.

       the  Fiann) were  quartered. Faeries  were imagined

       as particularly active at this  season. From it the

       half year is  reckoned.  also  called  Feile

       Moingfinne  (Snow Goddess).(1) The Scottish Gaelis

       Dictionary defines it as "Hallowtide. The Feast of

       All Soula. Sam  + Fuin =  end of summer."(2)

       Contrary to the  information published  by  many

       organizations,  there  is  no  archaeological  or

       literary  evidence to  indicate that  Samhain was  a

       deity. The Celtic Gods of the dead were Gwynn ap Nudd

       for the British, and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish

       did not have a "lord of death" as such.

 

  3. Why was the end of summer of significance to the Celts?

 

       The Celts were a pastoral people as opposed to an

       agricultural people. The end of summer was

       significant to them because it meant the time of year

       when the  structure of their lives changed

       radically. The cattle were brought down from the

       summer pastures in the hills and the people were

       gathered  into the houses  for the long  winter

       nights of  story- telling and handicrafts.

 

  4. What does it have to do with a festival of the dead?

 

       The  Celts believed  that when  people died,  they

       went  to a  land of eternal youth and  happiness

       called Tir nan Og. They  did not have the concept  of

       heaven  and hell  that the  Christian church later

       brought into the  land. The dead were  sometimes

       believed to be  dwelling with the  Fairy Folk,  who

       lived  in the  numerous mounds  or sidhe  (pron.

       "shee") that  dotted the Irish  and Scottish

       countryside.  Samhain was the  new year  to the

       Celts.  In  the Celtic  belief system,  turning

       points, such as the time between one  day and the

       next, the meeting of sea and shore, or  the turning

       of one year into the  next were seen as magickal

       times. The  turning of the year was the  most potent

       of these times. This was the time when the "veil

       between the worlds" was at its thinnest, and the

       living could  communicate with their beloved dead in

       Tir nan Og.

 

  5. What about the aspects of "evil" that we associate with

     the night today?

 

       The Celts did  not have demons and devils in  their

       belief system. The fairies,  however,  were  often

       considered  hostile  and dangerous to humans because

       they were seen as  being resentful of men  taking

       over their  lands. On  this night,  they would

       sometimes trick humans into becoming  lost  in  the

       fairy  mounds,  where  they  would be trapped

       forever.  After the  coming of   the Christians  to

       the  Celtic lands, certain  of the  folk saw  the

       fairies  as those  angels who had sided neither  with

       Gor  or with  Lucifer in  their dispute,  and thus,

       were condemned to walk the earth until  judgment

       day.(3) In addition to the fairies,  many humans

       were abroad  on this  night, causing  mischief. since

       this  night belonged neither  to one year  or the

       other,  Celtic folk  believed  that  chaos  reigned

       and  the  people would engage in "horseplay and

       practical jokes".(4) This served also as a final

       outlet for high spirits before the gloom of winter

       set in.

 

  6. What about "trick or treat"?

 

       During the course  of these hijinks, many of  the

       people would imitate the fairies and go from house

       to house begging for treats. Failure to supply  the

       treats  would  usually  result  in  practical jokes

       being visited on  the owner of the  house. Since the

       fairies  were abroad on this night, an  offering of

       food or milk was  frequently left for them on the

       steps  of the house, so the homeowner  could gain the

       blessings of the "good  folk" for the coming year.

       Many  of the households would also leave out a "dumb

       supper" for the spirits of the departed.(5) The folks

       who were  abroad in the night imitating  the fairies

       would some- times carry turnips  carved to represent

       faces. This  is the origin of our modern Jack-o-lantern.

  7. Was this also a religious festival?

 

       Yes. Celtic religion  was very closely tied to  the

       Earth. Their great legends  are  concerned  with

       momentous  happenings  which took place around the

       time  of Samhain. many of the great  battles and

       legends of kings and heroes center on this night.

       Many of the legends concern the promotion of

       fertility  of the earth and the  insurance of the

       continuance of the lives of the people through the

       dark winter season.

  8. How was the religious festival observed?

 

       Unfortunately, we  know very little  about that. W.G.

       Wood-Martin, in his book,  "Traces of the Elder

       Faiths of Ireland" states,  "There is comparitively

       little trace  of the religion of the  Druids now

       discoverable,  save in the  folklore of the

       peasantry, and the  references relative to it  that

       occur in ancient and  authentic Irish manuscripts

       are,  as far  as present  appearances go,  meagre and

       insufficient to support  anything like  a sound

       theory for  full development  of the ancient

       religion."(6)  The  Druids  were  the  priests  of

       the Celtic peoples. They passed  on their teachings

       by oral  tradition instead of committing  them to

       writing, so   when they  perished, most  of their

       religious  teachings were  lost. We   DO know  that

       this  festival was characterized as one of the four

       great "Fire Festivals" of the Celts. Legends tell  us

       that on this  night, all the hearth  fires in Ireland

       were extinguished, and then re-lit from the central

       fire of the Druids at  Tlachtga, 12  miles from  the

       royal  hill of  Tara. This  fire was kindled from

       "need  fire" which had been generated  by the

       friction of rubbing two  sticks together as  opposed

       to more  conventional methods common in those

       days.(7) The extinguishing of the fires symbolized

       the "dark half"  of the year, and  the re-kindling

       from the  Druidic fires was  symbolic  of  the

       returning  life  hoped  for, and brought about

       through the ministrations of the priesthood.

 

  9. What about sacrifices?

 

       Animals were certainly killed at this  time of year.

       This was the time to  "cull" from  the herds  those

       animals  which were  not desired for breeding

       purposes for  the next  year. Most  certainly, some

       of these would  have been  done in  a  ritualistic

       manner for  the use  of the priesthood.

 

  10. Were humans sacrificed?    

       Scholars  are  sharply  divided  on this  account,

       with  about  half believing that  it took place and

       half doubting  its veracity. Caesar and Tacitus 

       certainly tell tales of the human sacrifices of the

       Celts, but Nora Chadwick points out in her book

       "The Celts" that "it is not without interest that

       the Romans themselves had abolished human sacrifices

       not long before Caesar's time, and references to the

       practice among various barbarian peoples have certain

       overtones of self-righteousness. There is little direct

       archaeological evidence relevant to Celtic sacrifice."

       (8) Indeed, there is little reference to this practice

       in Celtic literature  either. The only surviving story

       echoes the story of the Minotaur in Greek legend.

       The Fomorians, a race of evil giants said to inhabit

       portions of Ireland before the coming of the Tuatha de

       Danaan, or "people of the Goddess Danu",demanded the

       sacrifice of 2/3 of the corn, milk, and first born

       children of the Fir Bolg, or human inhabitants of

       Ireland. The De Danaan ended this practice in the

       second battle of Moy Tura, which incidentally took

       place on Samhain.

   11. What other practices were associated with this season?

       Folk tradition tells us of many divination practices

       associated with Samhain. Among the most common were

       divinations dealing with marriage, weather, and the

       coming fortunes for the year. These were performed via

       such methods as ducking for apples, and apple peeling.

       Ducking for apples was a marriage divination. The first

       person to bite an apple would be the first to marry in

       the coming year.  Apple peeling was a divination tosee

       how long your life would be. The longer the unbroken

       apple peel, the longer your life was destined to be.(9)

       In Scotland, people would place stones in the ashes

       of the hearth before retiring for the night. Anyone

       whose stone had been disturbed during the night was

       said to be destined to die during the coming year.

   12. How did these ancient Celtic practices come to America?

       When the potato crop in Ireland failed, many of the

       Irish people, modern day descendents of the Celts,

       immigrated to America, bringing with them their folk

       practices, which are the  remnants of the Celtic festival

       observances.

   13. We in America view this as a harvest festival. Did the

       Celts also view it as such?

       Yes. The Celts had 3 harvests: Aug 1, or Lammas, was the

       first harvest, when the first fruits were offered to the

       Gods in thanks. The Fall Equinox was the "true harvest".

       This was when the bulk of the crops would be brought in.

       Samhain was the final harvest of the year. Anything left

       on the vines or in the fields after this date was

       considered blasted by the fairies, or "pu'ka", and unfit

       for human consumption.

  14. Does anyone today celebrate Samhain as a religious

      observance?

 

       Yes.  many followers  of various  pagan religions,

       such as Druids and Wiccans observe  this day as a

       religious festival. They view  it as a memorial day

       for  their dead friends, similar to  the national

       holiday of Memorial Day in May. It is  still a night

       to practice various forms of divination concerning

       future events.  Also, it is considered a time to wrap

       up old projects,  take stock of  ones life, and

       initiate new projects for the coming year. As  the

       winter season is approaching, it is a  good time to

       do studying on  research projects and  also a goot

       time to begin hand work  such as sewing, leather

       working, woodworking, etc. for Yule gifts later in

       the year.

 

  15. Does this involve human or animal sacrifice?

 

       Absolutely  NOT! Hollywood  to the  contrary, blood

       sacrifice is  not practiced by modern  day followers

       of Wicca or  Druidism. There may be some people  who

       THINK they  are practicing Wicca  by performing blood

       sacrifices, but this is NOT condoned by reputable

       practitioners of the modern day NeoPagan religions.

       FOOTNOTES:

       (1) Rev. Patrick Dineen, "An Irish English

           Dictionary" (Dublin, 1927), p.  937

       (2) Malcolm MacLennan,  "A  Pronouncing  and

           Etymological Dictionary of the  Gaelic Language"

           (Aberdeen, 1979), p.  279

       (3) W.G. Wood-Martin,"Traces of the Elder  Faiths of

           Ireland" (Port Washington, 1902), p. 5.

       (4) Kevin Danaher,"The Year in Ireland", (Cork,1972),

           p. 214

       (5) Alwyn & Brinley Rees,"Celtic Heritage" (New

           York,1961), p. 90

       (6) Wood-Martin, p. 249

       (7) Rees & Rees, p. 90

       (8) Nora Chadwick, "The Celts" (Harmondsworth,1982),

           p.  151

       (9) Madeleine Pelner Cosman, "Medieval Holidays  and

           Festivals," (New   York,  1981), p. 81

 

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       Coglan, Ronan, "A Dictionary of Irish Myth and

          Legend", Dublin,1979

       Cosman, Madeleine  Pelner, "Medieval Holidays and

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       Danaher, Kevin, "The Year in Ireland", Cork:  The

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       Dineen, Rev. Patrick S.,M.A, "An Irish English

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       Powell, T.G., E., "The Celts", New York:  Thanes &

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       Rees, Alwyn and Brinley, "Celtic Heritage, Ancient

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          Thanes & Hudson, 1961

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          and Hudson, 1975

       Spence, Lewis, "British Fairy Origins",

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       Squire, Charles, "Celtic Myth & Legend,  Poetry &

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       Toulson, Shirley, "The Winter Solstice", London:

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          Press, 1902 (c)

 

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