Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of Hallows' Even or
Hallows' Evening), also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints'
Eve, is a celebration observed in several countries on 31 October, the eve of
the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance
of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the
dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.
It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions
originated from ancient Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic
festival Samhain; that such festivals may have had pagan roots; and that
Samhain itself was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church. Some
believe, however, that Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, separate
from ancient festivals like Samhain.
Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the
related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving
pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination
games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, as
well as watching horror films. In many
parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows' Eve,
including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead,
remain popular, although elsewhere it is
a more commercial and secular celebration. Some Christians historically
abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of
certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes,
and soul cakes.
Etymology
The word Halloween or Hallowe'en dates to about 1745 and is
of Christian origin. The word
"Hallowe'en" means "Saints' evening". It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows'
Eve (the evening before All Hallows' Day). In Scots, the word "eve" is even,
and this is contracted to e'en or een. Over time, (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en
evolved into Hallowe'en. Although the phrase "All Hallows'" is found
in Old English "All Hallows' Eve" is itself not seen until 1556.
History
Gaelic and Welsh influence
Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been
influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries, some
of which are believed to have pagan roots. Jack Santino, a folklorist, writes that
"there was throughout Ireland an uneasy truce existing between customs and
beliefs associated with Christianity and those associated with religions that
were Irish before Christianity arrived".
Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes
that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast
of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead
called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of
Samhain, which comes from the Old Irish for 'summer's end'."
Samhain (/ˈsɑːwɪn, ˈsaʊɪn/) was the first and most important
of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated on
31 October – 1 November in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. A kindred festival was held at the same time
of year by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in
Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany; a name meaning "first day of
winter". For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset; thus the
festival began on the evening before 7 November by modern reckoning (the half
point between equinox and solstice). Samhain and Calan Gaeaf are mentioned in some
of the earliest Irish and Welsh literature. The names have been used by
historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century, and
are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween.
Samhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and
beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year. Like Beltane/Calan Mai, it was seen as a
liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned.
This meant the Aos Sí (Connacht pronunciation /iːsˈʃiː/ eess-SHEE, Munster /e:s
ʃi:/), the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into this world and were
particularly active. Most scholars see
the Aos Sí as "degraded versions of ancient gods [...] whose power
remained active in the people's minds even after they had been officially
replaced by later religious beliefs". The Aos Sí were both respected and feared,
with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their
dwellings. At Samhain, it was believed
that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their
livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the
crops, were left outside for the Aos Sí. The souls of the dead were also said to
revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Places were set at the dinner table and by the
fire to welcome them. The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one
night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is
found in many cultures throughout the world. In 19th century Ireland, "candles would
be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the
eating, drinking, and games would begin".
Throughout Ireland and Britain, the household festivities
included rituals and games intended to foretell one's future, especially regarding
death and marriage. Apples and nuts were
often used in these divination rituals. They included apple bobbing, nut
roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into
water, dream interpretation, and others. Special bonfires were lit and there
were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have
protective and cleansing powers, and were also used for divination. In some places, torches lit from the bonfire
were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them. It is suggested that the fires were a kind of
imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun, helping the
"powers of growth" and holding back the decay and darkness of winter.
In Scotland, these bonfires and
divination games were banned by the church elders in some parishes. In Wales, bonfires were lit to "prevent
the souls of the dead from falling to earth". Later, these bonfires served to keep
"away the devil".
From at least the 16th century, the festival included
mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales. This involved people going house-to-house in
costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food.
It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos Sí,
or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to the
custom of souling. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also
believed to protect oneself from them. It is suggested that the mummers and guisers
"personify the old spirits of the winter, who demanded reward in exchange
for good fortune".[68] In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included
a hobby horse. A man dressed as a Láir Bhán (white mare) led youths
house-to-house reciting verses – some of which had pagan overtones – in
exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune
from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune. In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with
masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they
were not welcomed. F. Marian McNeill
suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the
spirits, and that faces were marked (or blackened) with ashes taken from the
sacred bonfire. In parts of Wales, men
went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod. In the late 19th and early 20th century, young
people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed.
Elsewhere in Europe, mumming and hobby horses were part of
other yearly festivals. However, in the Celtic-speaking regions they were
"particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were
said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers".
From at least the 18th century,
"imitating malignant spirits" led to playing pranks in Ireland and
the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween spread
to England in the 20th century. Traditionally, pranksters used hollowed out
turnips or mangel wurzels often carved with grotesque faces as lanterns. By those who made them, the lanterns were
variously said to represent the spirits, or were used to ward off evil spirits.
They were common in parts of Ireland and
the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century, as well as in Somerset (see Punkie
Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of England and became
generally known as jack-o'-lanterns.
Christian influence
Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been
influenced by Christian dogma and practices derived from it. Halloween is the evening before the Christian
holy days of All Hallows' Day (also known as All Saints' or Hallowmas) on 1
November and All Souls' Day on 2 November, thus giving the holiday on 31
October the full name of All Hallows' Eve (meaning the evening before All
Hallows' Day). Since the time of the
early Church, major feasts in Christianity (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost)
had vigils that began the night before, as did the feast of All Hallows'. These three days are collectively called
Allhallowtide and are a time for honoring the saints and praying for the
recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. Commemorations of all
saints and martyrs were held by several churches on various dates, mostly in
springtime. In 609, Pope Boniface IV
re-dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to "St Mary and all martyrs" on 13
May. This was the same date as Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead,
and the same date as the commemoration of all saints in Edessa in the time of
Ephrem.
The feast of All Hallows', on its current date in the
Western Church, may be traced to Pope Gregory III's (731–741) founding of an
oratory in St Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all
saints, martyrs and confessors". In
835, All Hallows' Day was officially switched to 1 November, the same date as
Samhain, at the behest of Pope Gregory IV. Some suggest this was due to Celtic
influence, while others suggest it was a Germanic idea, although it is claimed
that both Germanic and Celtic-speaking peoples commemorated the dead at the
beginning of winter. They may have seen it as the most fitting time to do so,
as it is a time of 'dying' in nature. It
is also suggested that the change was made on the "practical grounds that
Rome in summer could not accommodate the great number of pilgrims who flocked
to it", and perhaps because of public health considerations regarding
Roman Fever – a disease that claimed a number of lives during the sultry
summers of the region.
On All Hallows' Eve, Christians in some parts of the world
visit cemeteries to pray and place flowers and candles on the graves of their
loved ones. The top photograph shows
Bangladeshi Christians lighting candles on the headstone of a relative, while
the bottom photograph shows Lutheran Christians praying and lighting candles in
front of the central crucifix of a graveyard.
By the end of the 12th century they had become holy days of
obligation across Europe and involved such traditions as ringing church bells
for the souls in purgatory. In addition, "it was customary for criers
dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and
calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls." "Souling", the custom of baking and
sharing soul cakes for all christened souls, has been suggested as the origin
of trick-or-treating. The custom dates
back at least as far as the 15th century and was found in parts of England, Flanders,
Germany and Austria. Groups of poor people, often children, would go
door-to-door during Allhallowtide, collecting soul cakes, in exchange for
praying for the dead, especially the souls of the givers' friends and
relatives. Soul cakes would also be
offered for the souls themselves to eat, or the 'soulers' would act as their
representatives. As with the Lenten
tradition of hot cross buns, Allhallowtide soul cakes were often marked with a
cross, indicating that they were baked as alms. Shakespeare mentions souling in his comedy The
Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593). On the
custom of wearing costumes, Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh wrote:
"It was traditionally believed that
the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All
Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their
enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by
any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or
costumes to disguise their identities".
It is claimed that in the Middle Ages, churches that were
too poor to display the relics of martyred saints at Allhallowtide let
parishioners dress up as saints instead. Some Christians continue to observe this
custom at Halloween today. Lesley
Bannatyne believes this could have been a Christianization of an earlier pagan
custom. While souling, Christians would carry
with them "lanterns made of hollowed-out
turnips". It has been suggested that the carved jack-o'-lantern, a
popular symbol of Halloween, originally represented the souls of the dead. On Halloween, in medieval Europe, fires
served a dual purpose, being lit to guide returning souls to the homes of their
families, as well as to deflect demons from haunting sincere Christian
folk. Households in Austria, England and Ireland
often had "candles burning in every room to guide the souls back to visit
their earthly homes". These were known as "soul lights". Many Christians in mainland Europe, especially
in France, believed "that once a year, on Hallowe'en, the dead of the
churchyards rose for one wild, hideous carnival" known as the danse
macabre, which has often been depicted in church decoration. Christopher Allmand and Rosamond McKitterick
write in The New Cambridge Medieval History that "Christians were moved by
the sight of the Infant Jesus playing on his mother's knee; their hearts were
touched by the Pietà; and patron saints reassured them by their presence. But,
all the while, the danse macabre urged them not to forget the end of all
earthly things." This danse macabre
was enacted at village pageants and at court masques, with people
"dressing up as corpses from various strata of society", and may have
been the origin of modern-day Halloween costume parties.
In parts of Britain, these customs came under attack during
the Reformation as some Protestants berated purgatory as a "popish"
doctrine incompatible with their notion of predestination. Thus, for some
Nonconformist Protestants, the theology of All Hallows' Eve was redefined;
without the doctrine of purgatory, "the
returning souls cannot be journeying from Purgatory on their way to Heaven, as
Catholics frequently believe and assert. Instead, the so-called ghosts are
thought to be in actuality evil spirits. As such they are threatening."
Other Protestants maintained belief in
an intermediate state, known as Hades (Bosom of Abraham), and continued to
observe the original customs, especially souling, candlelit processions and the
ringing of church bells in memory of the dead.
Mark Donnelly, a professor of
medieval archaeology, and historian Daniel Diehl, with regard to the evil
spirits, on Halloween, write that "barns
and homes were blessed to protect people and livestock from the effect of
witches, who were believed to accompany the malignant spirits as they traveled
the earth." In the 19th
century, in some rural parts of England, families gathered on hills on the
night of All Hallows' Eve. One held a bunch of burning straw on a pitchfork
while the rest knelt around him in a circle, praying for the souls of relatives
and friends until the flames went out. This was known as teen'lay. Other customs included the tindle fires in
Derbyshire and all-night vigil bonfires in Hertfordshire which were lit to pray
for the departed. The rising popularity
of Guy Fawkes Night (5 November) from 1605 onward, saw many Halloween
traditions appropriated by that holiday instead, and Halloween's popularity
waned in Britain, with the noteworthy exception of Scotland. There and in Ireland, they had been
celebrating Samhain and Halloween since at least the early Middle Ages, and the
Scottish kirk took a more pragmatic approach to Halloween, seeing it as
important to the life cycle and rites of passage of communities and thus
ensuring its survival in the country.
In France, some Christian families, on the night of All
Hallows' Eve, prayed beside the graves of their loved ones, setting down dishes
full of milk for them. On Halloween, in
Italy, some families left a large meal out for ghosts of their passed
relatives, before they departed for church services. In Spain, on this night, special pastries are
baked, known as "bones of the holy" (Spanish: Huesos de Santo) and
put them on the graves of the churchyard, a practice that continues to this day.
Spread to North
America
Lesley Bannatyne and Cindy Ott both wrote that Anglican
colonists in the southern United States and Catholic colonists in Maryland
"recognized All Hallow's Eve in their church calendars", although the
Puritans of New England maintained strong opposition to the holiday, along with
other traditional celebrations of the established Church, including Christmas. Almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th
century give no indication that Halloween was widely celebrated in North
America. It was not until mass Irish and
Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday
in North America. Confined to the
immigrant communities during the mid-19th century, it was gradually assimilated
into mainstream society and by the first decade of the 20th century it was
being celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial and religious
backgrounds. "In Cajun areas, a
nocturnal Mass was said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Candles that had been
blessed were placed on graves, and families sometimes spent the entire night at
the graveside". The yearly New York
Halloween Parade, begun in 1974 by puppeteer and mask maker Ralph Lee of
Greenwich Village, is the world's largest Halloween parade and America's only
major nighttime parade, attracting more than 60,000 costumed participants, two
million spectators, and a worldwide television audience of over 100 million.
Symbols
At Halloween, yards, public spaces, and some houses may be
decorated with traditionally macabre symbols including witches, skeletons,
ghosts, cobwebs, and headstones.
Development of artifacts and symbols associated with
Halloween formed over time. Jack-o'-lanterns are traditionally carried by
guisers on All Hallows' Eve in order to frighten evil spirits. There is a popular Irish Christian folktale
associated with the jack-o'-lantern, which in folklore is said to represent a
"soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell":
On route home after a
night's drinking, Jack encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a
tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, thus
trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul.
After a life of sin, drink, and mendacity, Jack is refused entry to heaven when
he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and
throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night,
so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out,
since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to
rest.
In Ireland and Scotland, the turnip has traditionally been
carved during Halloween, but immigrants to North America used the native
pumpkin, which is both much softer and much larger – making it easier to carve
than a turnip. The American tradition of
carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837 and was originally associated with harvest
time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the
mid-to-late 19th century.
The modern imagery of Halloween comes from many sources,
including Christian eschatology, national customs, works of Gothic and horror
literature (such as the novels Frankenstein and Dracula) and classic horror
films (such as Frankenstein and The Mummy). Imagery of the skull, a reference to Golgotha
in the Christian tradition, serves as "a reminder of death and the
transitory quality of human life" and is consequently found in memento mori
and vanitas compositions; skulls have therefore been commonplace in Halloween,
which touches on this theme. Traditionally,
the back walls of churches are "decorated
with a depiction of the Last Judgment, complete with graves opening and the
dead rising, with a heaven filled with angels and a hell filled with devils",
a motif that has permeated the observance of this triduum. One of the earliest works on the subject of
Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne, who, in 1780, made note of pranks
at Halloween; "What fearfu' pranks ensue!", as well as the
supernatural associated with the night, "Bogies" (ghosts),
influencing Robert Burns' "Halloween" (1785). Elements of the autumn season, such as
pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often
decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery
includes themes of death, evil, and mythical monsters. Black, orange, and sometimes purple are
Halloween's traditional colors.
Trick-or-treating and
guising
Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on
Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such
as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The
word "trick" implies a "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners
or their property if no treat is given. The practice is said to have roots in the
medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling. John Pymm wrote that "many of the feast days associated with the
presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church."
These feast days included All Hallows'
Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday. Mumming practiced in Germany, Scandinavia and
other parts of Europe, involved masked persons in fancy dress who "paraded the streets and entered houses to
dance or play dice in silence".
In England, from the medieval period, up until the 1930s,
people practiced the Christian custom of souling on Halloween, which involved
groups of soulers, both Protestant and Catholic, going from parish to parish,
begging the rich for soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the souls of the
givers and their friends. In the
Philippines, the practice of souling is called Pangangaluwa and is practiced on
All Hallow's Eve among children in rural areas. People drape themselves in white cloths to
represent souls and then visit houses, where they sing in return for prayers
and sweets.
In Scotland and Ireland, guising – children disguised in
costume going from door to door for food or coins – is a traditional Halloween custom, and is
recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895 where masqueraders in disguise
carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded
with cakes, fruit, and money. The
practice of guising at Halloween in North America is first recorded in 1911,
where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada reported children going
"guising" around the neighborhood.
American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of
Massachusetts wrote the first book-length history of Halloween in the US; The
Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en
in America". In her book, Kelley
touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making
this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days
overseas. All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or
adapted from those of other countries".
While the first reference to "guising" in North
America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween
appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920. The
earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in
1927, in the Blackie Herald Alberta, Canada.
The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the
turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but not
trick-or-treating. Trick-or-treating
does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the
first US appearances of the term in 1934, and the first use in a national publication
occurring in 1939.
A popular variant of trick-or-treating, known as trunk-or-treating
(or Halloween tailgating), occurs when "children are offered treats from
the trunks of cars parked in a church parking lot", or sometimes, a school
parking lot. In a trunk-or-treat event,
the trunk (boot) of each automobile is decorated with a certain theme, such as
those of children's literature, movies, scripture, and job roles. Trunk-or-treating has grown in popularity due
to its perception as being more safe than going door to door, a point that
resonates well with parents, as well as the fact that it "solves the rural
conundrum in which homes [are] built a half-mile apart".
Costumes
Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after
supernatural figures such as vampires, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches,
and devils. Over time, the costume
selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and
generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.
Dressing up in costumes and going "guising" was
prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the late 19th century. A Scottish term, the tradition is called
"guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children. In Ireland the masks are known as 'false
faces'. Costuming became popular for
Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as
for children, and when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in Canada and the
US in the 1920s and 1930s.
Eddie J. Smith, in his book Halloween, Hallowed is Thy Name,
offers a religious perspective to the wearing of costumes on All Hallows' Eve,
suggesting that by dressing up as creatures "who at one time caused us to
fear and tremble", people are able to poke fun at Satan "whose
kingdom has been plundered by our Saviour". Images of skeletons and the
dead are traditional decorations used as memento mori.
"Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" is a fundraising
program to support UNICEF, a United Nations Programme that provides
humanitarian aid to children in developing countries. Started as a local event
in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood in 1950 and expanded nationally in
1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern
times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores) to
trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the
houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $118
million for UNICEF since its inception. In Canada, in 2006, UNICEF decided to
discontinue their Halloween collection boxes, citing safety and administrative
concerns; after consultation with schools, they instead redesigned the program.
Pet costumes
According to a 2018 report from the National Retail
Federation, 30 million Americans will spend an estimated $480 million on
Halloween costumes for their pets in 2018. This is up from an estimated $200
million in 2010. The most popular costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed
by the hot dog, and the bumble bee in third place.
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