In what year was Halloween born?
It is impossible to say for certain. Many believe that its roots can be traced back to the
ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, which has been celebrated in Ireland, Scotland,
Wales, and elsewhere for countless centuries on or near the night of October 31st. It was
a night of bonfires and sacrifices, feasts, and late-night gatherings. Samhain was a
holiday of transitions. It marked the end of Summer and the beginning of Winter. It was
the last night of the Celtic year, a time to enjoy the fruits of the warmer seasons. It
was also the one night of the year when the dead and other spirits were free to roam the
earth and carry on as they pleased. So it was a fearful night, a dangerous one, for the
ancestral dead could do harm, as well as good, to the living. The recently departed were
said to visit their old homes and surviving family members on this night. To honor and
appease the dead souls, families would lay out tables filled with all the bounty of the
recent harvest and reserve a portion for any unseen visitors. Ritual offerings were made
and divinations held. Because the gates to the world beyond the grave swung freely this
night, a glimpse could be had into that shadowy realm and a person's future be foretold
with great accuracy.
61 A.D. In
this year, the Romans, who had conquered much of the Celtic world, outlawed the practice
of human sacrifice in all of their territories. This kind of ritual, we are told, had been
a part of Samhain, and other Celtic festivals, for countless generations. There is no
surviving written record made by the Celts themselves to describe their rites and
festivals. We must rely on the few Romans who wrote about these Celts whom they tried to
rule. The Celtic priests, the Druids, were said to be wise individuals who did not trust
the written word when it came to their most sacred activities. We do know, however, that
on Samhain, animal sacrifices continued well into the Christian era. Black horses, sheep,
and other livestock were killed and offered to various deities as late as the 400's A.D.
The Romans added a few rituals of their own to Halloween, among these are the use of
apples and nuts for divinations at harvest time.
837 In this
year, Pope Gregory IV ordered the general observance of All Saints Day on November 1st.
(It was this Church holiday that gave us the name "Halloween". In the Middle
Ages, All Saints Day was known as All Hallows, and the night before was known as All
Hallows Even, or Hallowe'en.) Relatively early in its history, the Church had far too many
Saints and martyrs to give a day to each one. At least as far back as 337 A.D. there was a
day to honor all the Saints who did not have individual feast days, but, this day was
usually in May. Church leaders decided that moving All Saints Day to November 1st might be
a way to transform the pagan holiday of Samhain. Many other Christian holidays, such as
Christmas, were placed on top of the older pagan holidays. The clever attempt to destroy
the old festivals had many successes, but, Halloween was an exception. In the end, The
Church gave Samhain a new name and added a new dimension to the day, but, it did not
destroy it. This night became a strange blend of Catholic and Pagan influences. The one
night of the year when the old gods come out to play in our newer world.
1517 On
October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his "95 Theses" to the door of
All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Thus began the splitting-up of the Church known
as the Protestant Reformation. One of the reforms was to downplay or eliminate the old
notion of Saints, and their feast days. All Saints Day was removed from Protestant church
calendars and, therefore, so was Halloween. The majority of the early Colonists in New
England were Protestants, and many held to quite rigid and austere beliefs. There was
little or no celebration of Halloween in the early days of many of the colonies of New
England. In the Catholic colonies, especially in the territories that became Mexico,
Halloween and the festivals of All Saints and All Souls Days fused with the native
cultures and produced a 3 day festival of the Dead. It begins on October 31st and
continues to November 2nd; the Dias de los Muertos. It is a vibrant and moving
tribute to the dearly departed, when graves are decorated, offerings placed, and prayers
said. There is also much feasting and merry-making in honor of the Dead.
1819 This is
the year that Washington Irving published his story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This
story is set in a Colonial village that did not have what we would call Halloween. There
were, however, Harvest festivals known as Autumn Play Parties that would have included
much of the Fall trimmings we associate with Halloween. The British colonies had a holiday
known as Guy Fawkes Day. This day, November 5th, commemorates the failure of an attempt in
1605 to blow-up the British House of Parliament along with the King. Guido (or Guy)
Fawkes, was a Catholic Terrorist who devised the failed plot to destroy the Protestant
government. Many aspects of Halloween are also a part of this holiday; bonfires, costumes,
door-to-door begging, and mischief. In many parts of New England, October 31st came to be
known as Nutcrack Night or Snap Apple Night, a night full of mischief and mayhem for the
young. This was also one of the last opportunities for courting and socializing before the
long and bitter Winter set in. The festivities would often run late into the evening and
old tales and ghost stories would be told around a glowing hearth. While Colonial New
England did not have Halloween, it did have Pumpkins. Back in Europe, many Colonists had
carved turnips or over-sized potatoes into jack-o-lanterns on Halloween night. Of course,
the New World pumpkins made much better lanterns than turnips or potatoes. Can you imagine
carving a potato jack-o-lantern?
1845 This
year saw the beginning of a great tragedy known as The Irish Potato Famine. By
the time it was over, well over a million Irish men, women, and children were dead and
almost two million Irish people had immigrated to America. Among the many gifts that the
Irish immigrants brought to the New World was their notion of Halloween. They had kept
many of the ancient traditions alive and well and they transplanted them here. The holiday
took root and flourished. Victorian Americans had a taste for things dark and
preternatural anyway. 1845 was also the year that Edgar Allan Poe published his poem The
Raven to great acclaim and a book of his Tales was also quite successful.
Victorians took a fancy to the "new" holiday. Halloween was no longer really a
Church holiday and was freed of some of the seriousness that had frightened away many
non-Catholics. Haunted Houses, elaborate parlor games, and a general sense of fun and
mischief became a part of Halloween in the Victorian era.
1926 On
October 31, 1926, Harry Houdini died in Detroit, Michigan. He was the world's greatest
escape artist. During his life he had exposed many so-called mediums and psychics as
frauds and charlatans. He was, however, still fascinated by the world beyond the grave and
whether or not he could escape its tight grip. He and his wife, Beatrice, agreed to
attempt to contact one another if one should die before the other. She tried to contact
him every year until her death in 1943. She did not feel the experiment was a success,
but, every Halloween a group of magicians, and many others, try to contact the great
Houdini. Many other individuals who have left this world are sought out on Halloween
night. Many people still believe it is a night when the normal rules do not apply. A night
when all manner of things may be seen, heard, and felt....