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What comes to mind when you think of Halloween? Is it the costumes and candy? Trick or Treat? Horror elements and terrifying stories? Pumpkins and the changing weather?
Halloween is all those things and so much more. Objectively, it seems like such strange holiday. “The weather is colder, time to throw on some costumes and visit strangers for candy! Meanwhile, the adults can watch horror films!” So how did it all begin? Where did Halloween come from?
We know that the origins of Halloween rest in Samhain (pronounced “sow-wen”), but the earliest start of the holiday are a little fuzzy. Some claim that Samhain was celebrated in modern-day Ireland before the Celts arrived in the area. Pointing to two hills in the Boyne Valley that became important for the Celtic celebration of Samhain, Tlachtga and Tara, some historians say that the entrance to the Mound of Hostages on the Hill of Tara is aligned with the rising sun during October/November. The Mound of the Hostages dates back to 4,500 to 5,000 years ago where the Celts only arrived in Ireland around 2,500 years ago.
Regardless of its actual beginnings, today Samhain is widely associated with the Celts and pagan traditions. It was also both a joyful and frightening holiday, much like today’s Halloween; Samhain marked the end of the harvest and the thinning of the barriers between the physical and spiritual worlds. .
Joyfully, Samhain was a community celebration. Ancient texts indicate that it was a three day, three night celebration where hearths were allowed to burn out and a community wheel of wood, representing the sun, was lit and taken home to relight each family hearth. Some texts indicate excessive drinking and huge feasts that the community would partake in.
Conversely, Samhain was a time of monsters. The Celts would leave offerings at the edge of town to try and appease the various entities of the spirit world. The Sidhe, or fae, were expected to cross over the thinned barriers and wreak havoc on the physical realm. Per folklorist Juilene Osborne-McKnight:
On this night, of all nights, our ancestors believed that the souls of the dead could return and the Little People could come through the doorway. The Little People could be…unpredictable. Among their number were those who cared for human beings, married them, dealt fairly with them. But there were equally as many who might try to kill humans, steal their children and replace them with changeling babies, or trick them into the world of the Sidhe, in which time did not pass the same way it passes on earth. A human tricked into the world of the Sidhe might believe the he had been among them for three days, only to return to earth to discover that 300 years had passed and everyone he was was long dead.*
Ancient practice continued in Celtic communities through the middle ages, when a new (but now recognizable) tradition emerged: carving large vegetables. For the Celts, they would carve turnips, put them on sticks, and place a piece of coal inside. The glowing “jack-o-lanterns” were placed in front of homes to ward off the Sidhe and other otherworldly characters. Also familiar: doors were left open and cakes were made for any ancestors who crossed the barrier for the one night. The living would eat any remaining cakes after the barrier once again strengthened.
The fire festivals and traditions of Samhain were so ingrained in Celtic culture, that during the spread of Christianity the holiday needed to be somehow integrated into church practice. Pope Boniface made an attempt in the 5th century by moving the holiday to May and selling it as a celebration for the saints. His attempt failed, but a similar attempt by Pope Gregory in the 9th century was more successful. Naming the new holiday All Saints Day, or All Hallows' Day, and celebrating it on November 1st, this holiday was infinitely more successful, if only because of it’s timing.
The now Christianized Ireland adopted the church’s All Hallows’ Day, but with their own addition of Hallows Eve on October 31st, where they still enjoyed fire festivals and warded off the otherworldly with their traditional offerings.
When Irish immigrants came over to America, they brought Hallows Eve with them, where it morphed into the Halloween of today. The unique mix of joy and fright from Samhain remained, as kids dressed in costumes (similar to the Irish tradition of mumming), and instead of doors being left over for the ancestors to eat cake, kids went door to door for candy. The Sidhe weren’t the causing mischief, but trick-or-treaters took on the role and performed “tricks” if there were no treats offered. Finally, carved turnips became carved pumpkins with candles or lights placed inside.
But like many traditions that the church tried to absorb, Samhain never really went away. Not only did their attempt at All Saints’ Day not fully erase Samhain traditions in Christianized Ireland, it didn’t actual eradicate Samhain at all. There are still many practitioners of Samhain today. It’s widely associated with Wicca and interest in a traditional Samhain had somewhat of a resurgence in the 1980's. Though Samhain is Halloween’s past, it’s also its contemporary.
Thus is the brief history of Halloween. Honestly, one could (and others have) write a book on the traditions, myths, and belief surrounding Samhain and how many were absorbed into Halloween. Ultimately, Halloween is sweet but sassy, joyful but scary, horror-filled but silly. It’s a tradition that is fun for young and old, much like the Samhain of ancient Ireland.
*Osborne-McKnight, J. (2015). The Story We Carry in Our Bones: Irish History for Americans. Pelican Publishing Company.
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