2003.10.20 – The Origins of Halloween

JOKE

Delicious Pumpkin Cookies

NYELVTAN

HALLGATÓ KÉRDEZI

NAPI TÉMA

The Origins of Halloween

All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween or Samhain once marked the end of grazing, when herds were collected and separated for slaughter. For farmers, it is the time at which anything not made use of in the garden loses its’ life essence, and is allowed to rot. Halloween is the original new year, when the Wheel of the Year finishes: debts were paid, scores settled, funereal rites observed and the dead put to rest before the coming winter. On this night, the veil between our world and the spirit world was considered negligible, and the dead may return to walk amongst us. Halloween was the night to ensure that they had been honored, fed and satisfied–and was the best time of the year for gaining otherworldly insight through divination and psychic forecasting. Recognition of the unseen world and the ordinary person’s access to it, as well as the acceptance of death as a natural and illusory part of life was central to the sacred nature of this holiday.

The History of Halloween

For most cultures, the beginning of Autumn’s dying season traditionally initiates a time of reflection about those who have passed away. In Northern Britain, the words ghost and guest (geist) are the same word. In isolated and mountainous Celtic villages, dead relatives were disinterred and their skulls reverently painted, so they could rejoin the family during October "dumb" feasts. With little space to spare for burial, these skulls would be stacked and saved for future in eerie rooms.

Other world cultures celebrate the end of harvest with a nighttime wander to either welcome or frighten away roving spirits, while some festivals include door-to-door begging to benefit children and the poor. Mexicos Day of the Dead on November second wondrously combines honoring the dead–by tidying graveyards and offering food to ancestors–with the playful and macabre preponderance of sugar skulls and paper mache skeletons. In the United States, the sacred Autumn aspects of divination and communication with the spirit world are a legacy of the Celts; while American Halloween activities descend from the British Isles, focusing on parties and nighttime mischief.

19th Century Halloween parties involved play acting, costumes and whimsical fortune telling. Parties were fun for the children and gave courting couples an excuse for romantic nighttime walks and visits. Victorian-era lovers revived the ancient practice of bobbing for apples, as well as parlor pastimes like the provocative game where couples together bite into suspended donuts with their hands tied behind their backs. Edwardian postcards featured classic Halloween images: witches, cats, bats and owls, and little charms and chants to attract sweethearts and foresee the future.

In Germanic Pagan tradition, taxes and wages were collected in person at this time of year. In Scotland, this practice turned into playful door-to-door begging called "guising." The ancient art of communing with the spiritworld evolved into souling in England: wandering about at night, disguised, welcoming the ancestors back with lights held in carved out turnips. Later, with the rise of the church, seeking contact with the other side was discouraged, and folks attempted to frighten ghosts away. In America, successive waves of European immigrants in the 1800s diluted British traditions, and when nighttime mischief-making began to be practiced by the newcomers, it fueled native prejudices and fears of juvenile delinquency.

By the turn of the century, Halloween had become an ever more destructive way to let off steam for crowded and poor urban dwellers. As Stuart Schneider writes in Halloween in America(1995), vandalism that had once been limited to tipping outhouses; removing gates, soaping windows and switching shop signs, by the 1920s had become nasty–with real destruction of property and cruelty to animals and people. Perhaps not coincidentally, the disguised nighttime terrorism and murders by the Klu Klux Klan reached their apex during the decade. Schneider writes that neighborhood committees and local city clubs such as the Boy Scouts then mobilized to organize safe and fun alternatives to vandalism. School posters of the time call for a Sane Halloween. Good children were encouraged to go door to door and receive treats from homes and shop owners, thereby keeping troublemakers away. By the 1930s, these beggars nights were enormously popular and being practiced nationwide, with the trick or treat greeting widespread from the late 1930s.

The 1900s through the mid 1960s was the golden age of Halloween-themed Americana. Paper cast jack o lanterns and candy containers, die cut decorations, wooden ratchets and tin noisemakers, postcards and party idea magazines abounded and featured wacky, mischievous pumpkin-headed kids or goofy characters composed of vegetable shapes. Cats and owls had grinning teeth and rolling eyes. Witches were fierce and strong characters, often retaining a realistic old-woman-quality about them. Devils were particularly gleefully fierce, and represented naughtiness, or lack of conscience. Many of these pieces were made by women in German cottage industries before World War II and later expanded in Japan. American companies such as Luhrs, Dennison and Beistle dominated the party accessories market in the United States. The decorations of those decades reveal a society secure enough to get pleasure out of being spooked, apparently reserving fear for real enemies and actual threats. Our Grandparents understood and tolerated such fun for children on one night of the year: to run through neighborhoods and across country lanes, without supervision, getting a generous stash of homemade sweets from neighbors and friends: cookies, popcorn balls, muffins and wrapped cakes. And to experience that creepy, thrilling rush of being outside at night, with spirits and ghosts all around.

Social changes during the last thirty years have diminished much of Halloweens innocence. During the 1960’s, the rise in cults, the Manson murders, and movies such as Rosemarys Baby and The Exorcist fleshed out satans vague biblical character. The popular cultures expression of satan gave life to it: literally invested it with fear of evil, where there was little previously. Hollywood created the satanic cult. The well-publicized acts of loading brownies with pot or LSD by a few demented individuals insured that Halloween treats are now exclusively pre-packaged, store bought candy. Later scares of candy loaded with pins or razor blades further lent a sinister possibility to Halloween. Ironically, most Halloween decoration and paper products today are benign and fluffily cute, while acceptable scary entertainment features convulsively violent bloodbaths. Mystical spirits and ghosts are gone from the scene.

Yet Halloween survives as an exciting part of the harvest season. Perhaps our society will learn to effectively challenge every-day threats and dangers, leaving alone those traditions that make childhood magical, and restoring the myth and whimsy.

Fun Facts

A list of folk names for hobgoblins, elves, fairies, gremlins, imps and Things That Go Bump in the Night:

Redshank, Phouka, Manx Buggane, Padfoot, Boggart, Galley-Trot, Picktree Brag, Licke, Dunter, Colt-Pixie, Skrike, Rawhead, Pokey-Hokey, Lull, Melsh Dick, Orph, Fane, Dunnie, Booback, Cauld Lad of Hilton, Hobmen, Pinch, Yarthkins, Pug, Redcap, Mumpoker, Sib, Hagge, Booman, Capelthwaite, Dobie, Puck, Spunkie, Knockers, Mara, Peg Powler, Clap-Cans, Bullbeggar, Tom-Poker, Bugs, Frid, Henkie, Lubbard-Fiend, Cearb, Bug-a-Boo, Mare, Banshee, Tankerabogus, Lob, Trow, Wight, Jack-in-Irons, Tatterfoal, Bugbear, Skillywidden, Boggle-Boo, Galley-Beggar, Bogey-Beast, Urisk, Licke, Galley-Trot, Dunnie, Barguest, Derricks, Grogan, Dobby, Klippe, Booback, Pixie, Brag-Buggan, Puddlefoot, Tom Thumb, Firedrake, Hellwaine, Calcar, Kit with Cansticke, Boneles, Puckle, Tom Tumbler, Spoorne, Humbug, Spoge, Putz.

Two thousand, five-hundred years ago a Japanese artisan was inspired by the incredible jointed folds of bat wings to create the first folding fans.

Some Native American tribes believe the owl to be harbinger of illness and death. While some writings emphasize the fear owls inspire, some poems relate gratitude to owls for maintaining a balance of health in the tribe. Owls are believed to do the necessary work of helping escort the dead to the spirit world.

Owls only have as many owlets as they can care for. They feed all their babies equally, making certain smaller babies catch up to others in size and health, never leaving weaker ones to starve.

In pre-Christian Pagan Europe, women ordinarily practiced skills of healing, spiritual leadership and intuition and fierce protectiveness of family, unseparated from everyday life. The ordinary business of Germanic wives included healing and protection spells as well as routine future forecasting. At first contact with the Germanic tribes, Romans were astonished that the men respected and honored women equally as themselves, and sought their wisdom in counsel.