For the Celts, the year was divided into the light part of the year and the dark part of the year. The day was also known as All Saints Day or All Souls Day. At this time of the year, which began usually on November 1st or October 31st and lasted three days, from sunset to sunset (following the Biblical tradition of marking days), and marked a time in the year when the space between the world of the living and the world of the dead was thinner and therefore more permeable.
Communication with the dead was more possible on All Souls Day, in both good and bad ways, and one had to pay homage while also taking the necessary precautions against any spirits who may have less than good intentions. November 1st marked the beginning of the Celtic New Year, and the celebration began on October 31st.
Note too that All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows Eve, Hallow from the word in Roman which means “sanctified” was eventually considered a very holy day in the church for people of the Anglican, Episcopalian, Catholic and Lutheran faiths, while still being a Pagan holiday during which time fairies were more prevalent as well, including The Snow Goddess “Feile Moingfinne.” Not only did people attend mass, which was a solemn rite, but they would also dress up in frightening costumes to scare off the dead spirits who perhaps did not wish them well.
The practice was to go from house to house in your frightening costume (after a mass or celebration of some kind) and collect Soul Cakes as protection and as part of a celebration. The celebration generally lasted about three days and, again, marked the cycling of another year.
I recently read that contrary to what many have believed, there is no archeological evidence that Samhain was ever the name of a deity, but is as noted above, the meaning of the words put together. More simply, Samhain can be thought of as “Summer’s end.”
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
thanks Sadi, and interesting and informative roundup of the odd collection of traditions and rituals that has come to be Halloween
2 - sadi
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
3 - chunyang
ilikeit soooooooo much
4 - yoyo
this is wierd. i havent read it yet. but it's wierd.
5 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
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.