A brief history of All Souls Day | Halloween
Published October 29, 2004
Those of Celtic origin, both Irish and Scottish, while not generally celebrated in the rest of Britain, brought the holiday, to America. Over time, the customs changed and the holiday became somewhat devoid of any religious or mystical significance, and became simply a time to dress up and go about collecting candy.
The tradition of being a prankster on Halloween or Mischief Night as it is called in the States became common in the late 19th-early twentieth century when young boys would play minor tricks on absent households who did not have any candy to give them, though note this was not part of the original holiday.
Jack o Lanterns, now carved from pumpkins, used to be carved out of turnips or beetroot, and were used to scare off goblins and ghosts, and to this end, would be carved with a scary face and lit with a small candle. When the first Celtic settlers arrived in America, they did not find many turnips or beets but did find an abundance of pumpkins and this is how pumpkins replaced the beet and the carved turnip, and are used to this day to scare off any unwanted dead souls or demons when left in front of houses. Note too that some sources note that bats, cats and other nocturnal animals became symbols of Halloween because they were nocturnal and believed that they could communicate with the dead as well – that they could communicate and more, cats were associated with witches. To witches today, Halloween represents the end of the witches' year and the beginning of the deadness and chill of winter, though note that to witches too, this time of the year is marked by a thinning of sorts when communication with all souls is more likely than at any other time of the year.
So go about your All Souls Day business, collect your soul cakes, toss your apple peels over your shoulder and your nutshells to the fire, divine your future, but take care out there.
It’s a mad, mad world.
- A brief history of All Souls Day | Halloween
- Published: October 29, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Culture
- Writer: Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti
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thanks, Eric - just a quick round up of halloween history; it needed to be done, though perhaps others have done so as well. collectively, i think we've got all soul's day covered... i hope!
spooookkkkyyyyy....
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sade
heya,
the whole concept of Halloween, or All Souls Day is pretty weird. But that's the history, babe... pretty strange, i agree. In the UK, i never did Halloween when i was growing up. Maybe other places in the UK do... but not in Tottenham or Finsbury Park... at least, not in my family, and not in my family in Glasgow either... so I never saw it until I came to the states.
My favorite was always the night before, which my brother told me was "mischief night" which i always thought more fun than Halloween.
We once stole a sign that said "Beyond" from a "No parking beyond this point" thing and Beyond was on a separate piece of wood. We put it on my creepy (older teenagers) front lawn and then in shaving cream wrote beneath it "Help" such that it read, "Beyond Help" - we were about sixteen, he was about 19.
He caught us (i'll never forget this - because this kid had a major crush on me... his name was Kirk McDouglas and he was friggin' creepy). He came out with a BB gun, threatened my kid brother, then forced me to sing for him (yes, really) in his garage. I'll never forget, i sang "Angel of the Morning" (which you prob. don't know... or maybe you do... i'm not sure if it's a popular song or not, only that i know/knew the words).
So his 'punishment' was that i had to sit there and sing for him. THAT was the creepiest part of all.
I'm almost certain he's a serial killer now... or maybe he just lives with his mother still and plays with his BB gun and spends too much time in the shower, if you catch my drift.
In any event, Kirk, if you're out there, you're a damn freak and you freaked me right out, you friggin' weirdo. If i saw you today, i'd kick your ass. So would my brothers (yes, plural now, and all of them huge).
Talk about weird - there you go... THAT IS WEIRD.
thanks for the read.
s.r.p.
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thanks Sadi, and interesting and informative roundup of the odd collection of traditions and rituals that has come to be Halloween