2008 Woodie Awards
From pagans to Catholics: The origins of Halloween
Cherie Reicks
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One has to wonder as we celebrate: Where did all of this come from?
According to www.religioustolerance.org/hallowee.htm and www.wilstar.net/holidays/hallown.htm, the origins of Halloween come mainly from Europe. These sites say the Celtic people were the first to celebrate a holiday similar to Halloween during the end of October. Samhain was a festival that took place at the end of the summer. It was also know as the Celtic New Year. During this time, they believed the veil between this world and the next was the thinnest. They believed a relative would return while inhabiting an animal, often a black cat.
Celts also thought spirits would come back from the dead and try to inhabit a living person's body. To prevent this, villagers would put out the fire in their homes to make their homes less desirable. Then they would dress up in ghoulish costumes and parade around the neighborhood in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
The actual origin of the word "Halloween" comes from the Catholic church. The word comes from the celebration of the religious holiday All Hallows Eve, the day before All Saints Day. All Saints Day is celebrated Nov. 1 to honor all saints. Over time, All Hallows Eve became Halloween.
Other things related to this holiday -- jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples and trick-or-treating -- have Celtic and Irish origins.
The term jack-o-lantern comes from an Irish story in which a drunkard and trickster named Jack tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, which trapped the devil in the tree. He then made a deal with the devil to let him down if he promised to never tempt him again. Many years afterward when Jack died, heaven would not take him because of his evil ways but he was also denied access to hell because he had tricked Satan. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the cold darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer. Later, when the Irish moved to the New World, they began to use hollowed-out pumpkins, which have now become our modern day jack-o-lanterns.
Bobbing for apples comes from the belief that apples are associated with female deities and immortality, resurrection and knowledge. The reason behind this is that when an apple is cut through its equator, it has a five-sided star or pentagram in the center. A pentagram is a goddess symbol among Gypsies, Celts and Egyptians. Often times it is believed that if unmarried people attempted to take a bite out of an apple while bobbing in a pail of water, the first person to do so will be the next to marry.
Trick-or-treating is thought to come from the Irish but actually comes through a ninth-century European custom called souling. On Nov. 2, All Souls Day (where all the people who died are honored), poor Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes" made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes that were collected, the more prayers they would promise to say for dead relatives of donors. It was believed, at that time, the dead remained in limbo for a time after death and that prayer, even by strangers, could help a soul's passage to heaven.
The other origin comes from the Celts. In honor of Samhain, they would give offerings of food to the gods. Celts often times went door to door to collect food to donate to their deities. Afterwards, they would take it to the top of the hill for the Samhain bonfire.
Halloween as we know it has undergone many evolutions from the religious celebration it was centuries ago. As you put on your costume, carve a jack-o-lantern or bob for apples this year, keep in mind the origins of the holiday.