I must admit that I have never been trick-or-treating. I like to use this as an excuse to claim that I was a “deprived child” – *cough cough* first world problems – but I cannot honestly say that my childhood was incomplete. Whether it was due to the neighbourhood we lived in, or my parents’ personal beliefs, I am not sure. I know it may seem strange to say that some people “don’t believe” in Halloween. Sorry, by that did you mean they “don’t believe” in dressing up and eating candy? Maybe “don’t believe” in accepting candy from strangers? Or “don’t believe” in the infamous cat costume? Nowadays it may seem like there is nothing to “not believe” in with regards to Halloween, but this was not necessarily always the case. Back in the day, Halloween rituals had a real significance. And, surprisingly, many ancient traditions are still continued in Britain.
These rituals generally take place at the end of the harvest season. This time of the year is when the barrier between this world and the spirit world was believed to be at its thinnest, so people took this opportunity to pay tribute to the spirits of their ancestors, as well as to protect themselves against dark spirits.
For example, Souling is an event presently observed in Cheshire where “mummers” (cross-dressing actors) perform a play featuring King George for All Soul’s Day, which is November 1, in order to protect the community from unwanted spirits. The mummers also hand out soul cakes to the audience, which comes from the tradition of handing out cakes to beggars in remembrance of the dead. Hoodening is very similar, and is practiced in Kent four days before Christmas. Villagers dress up in costumes and cart a wooden horse around to local pubs to perform a play centred around the theme of death. Apple Howling is another practice based in superstition. In Worthing, West Sussex, villagers pour apple cider over tree roots in order to encourage a plentiful crop the next year, and to ward off evil spirits.
There are numerous other examples of traditions we may find strange that they are still practiced to this day. And while Halloween is no longer practiced in its original form, the fact that a version of it still exists today makes its history more relevant.
Halloween is believed to have originated 2,000 years ago from a pagan Celtic festival referred to as either Samhain, or All Hallow’s Eve. The Celts’ new year began on what now corresponds to November 1. October 31, or what would have been New Years’ Eve, was seen as a turning point because it marked the end of the year, and the transition from the autumn’s harvest to the winter’s hardship. During Samhain, the souls of the dead would begin their journey to the Underworld, and the Lord of Darkness would come out to assist them. People lit bonfires to guide these souls, and also to prevent them from interacting with the souls of the living. They would also carve out turnips and fill the insides with coals, then place them on the doorstep to ward off evil spirits. The pumpkin was adopted in lieu of the turnip when settlers moved to the new world, because pumpkins were easier to carve out and were more readily available in North America.
The shift from Samhain to modern day Halloween began when the missionaries began attempts to “save the heathens’ souls,” but the two religions were obviously completely different. In 602 AD, Pope Gregory I decided that a compromise was the best way to proceed, which was brilliant in theory. For example, they arbitrarily assigned Christmas to December 25 because that was when many groups had their mid-winter celebration. The Christian feast of All Saint’s day was assigned to November 1, to correspond with Samhain. It was almost as if the Celts were acting Christian by accident, although they never gave up their beliefs but continued to worship their own deities. The Christians associated these pagan gods with evil spirits, and branded these people as devil worshippers. Eventually, the practice of Samhain continued, but the wandering spirits were now associated with evil, which was never the case originally. Since then, All Hallow’s Eve has evolved to the very different idea of Halloween that we have today, but the customs have continued.
The colours of orange and black originated from Samhain as well. Black represented the darkness after the death of their god, and orange the dawn of his rebirth. The origins of trick-or-treating is controversial, but one theory is that it came from the distribution of soul cake. Costumes came from both Christians and Celts, as Christians would dress up as their favourite saints, and Celts would dress up and dance out of town to lead the souls of the dead. People would also wear masks when they went out at night, especially in the winter, so that the spirits would not mistake them for fellow spirits. Back in the day, people did not spend weeks deciding which outfit made them look cute. It had roots in actual belief systems.
So now you can decide for yourself whether or not you “believe” in Halloween. I suspect that most people do not.
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