"Trick or Treat" - The History of Hallowe'en

“I was born on the night of Samhain, 

when the barrier between the worlds 

is whisper-thin and when magic, 

old magic, sings its heady and sweet song 

to anyone who cares to hear it.”

― Carolyn MacCullough, Once a Witch

Happy Hallowe'en! Welcome to The Art of Caesura!

If my calculations are correct, Hallowe'en only falls on a Friday (the day my blog posts go live) once every 6-7 years (leap years probably mess with this), so today is a special occasion indeed. 

I recently attended a TED talk by Dr. Jenny Butler, a Lecturer at University College Cork where she teaches courses on mythology, folk religion, new religious movements, and Western esotericism. Her TED talk was on "Samhain and the Origins of Halloween". 

Dr. Jenny Butler

Long-time readers of the blog will know that I love Hallowe'en, so I really loved her talk, and I'm excited to share aspects of it with you today!

A couple last things before we start: for a fun Hallowe'en festivity, check out the Hallowe'en pub quiz I made a few years ago. And lastly, I'm going to be mentioning Samhain a lot (it's a word that's used to refer to Hallowe'en in the Irish language), this word is pronounced "SOW-in" (the first syllable is pronounced like a female pig, rhyming with when you stub your toe - not like "sow" with a needle and thread or with seeds).

***

The story of Hallowe'en begins with the Celts (who came to Ireland in 500 BCE). they embodied some of the Druidic stereotypes for which they have become known, namely their spirituality in relation to nature. According to the ancient Celtic calendar, the year was divided into two halves: the light half and the dark half (but neither half was seen as better or worse than the other). Their New Year began at the start of the dark half of the year, what is now October 31st. 

So their year began in darkness, just as the seed germinates in the darkness of the soil, and the baby gestates in the darkness of the womb. They would have a big festival to mark the New Year with feasting and bonfires. The feasting served a more practical purpose - the Celts knew that they would not be able to support all of their livestock through the winter, so some of it would be sacrificed at this time for the feast. Their bones would be thrown into bone fires (which would become "bonfires". This New Year's celebration was called Samhain (derived from "summer's end"). 

At the liminal point between the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year, the veil between our world and the spirit realm is thin. The Celts would wear costumes made of animal skins to confuse spirits that might mean them harm, called "guising". And carve turnips (which would become pumpkins) to use as lanterns to ward off evil spirits. 

So, so far, this is why Hallowe'en is celebrated on October 31st, why we wear costumes for it, and the carving of pumpkins. But how did it go from being called Samhain to Hallowe'en? Well, we'll have to skip ahead a few hundred years to the 9th century and the establishment of Christianity in Ireland. 

Christians have long claimed pagan festivals as their own; and they had been Canonising saints for hundreds of years before this point - and most Saints had their specific Holy Day on the Christian calendar. However, a day was chosen to commemorate All Saints of the world. This was called All Saints Day (or all Hallow's Day - hallow being from the same root as "Holy") and was chosen for November 1st, in an effort to usurp the Celtic festival of Samhain. 

On All Saints Day kids and poor people would go "souling" - going door-to-door to offer up their prayers for the souls of people's dearly departed in exchange for Soul Cakes. This is how the tradition of Trick-or-Treating developed. 

So if November 1st is All Hallow's Day then the evening before it is All Hallow's Eve, which was modernized to "Hallowe'en".

***

As you can see, I was sitting with rapt attention in that TED talk, scribing furiously in my notebook as Dr. Butler relayed this history.

I hope you have found this interesting - I certainly have!

And with that, I bid you Happy Hallowe'en, and I'll see you next week on The Art of Caesura!

Reading: Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros

Watching: Slow Horses (Season 5)

Next Week:

League Game 4...