The Spooky Origins of Our Modern Halloween Rituals

We all know how commercial it is Halloween Made up of expensive dress-up, trick-or-treat “candy” and fake spider webs (please don’t do this – they kill the birds!).

But if you’ve ever dismissed Halloween as an American invention, you might want to reconsider.

For at least the last few millennia, the change of seasons has been marked by celtic with people festivals At recognized times of the year.

One of these was known as Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”) by the Irish and Scottish Gaels, which was celebrated at the beginning of winter.

In the Northern Hemisphere, this falls around the end of October, however legacy It predates our modern calendar.

Samhain and the rhythm of the agricultural year

At Samhain, the harvest will end, the last livestock will be brought back from summer pastures, and people will prepare for winter.

The old Gaelic proverb “Oidhche Samhna Tyrr Gamhna Rhys na Laoigh” (On Samhain night, calves become storks) shows us how closely the idea of ​​Samhain is linked to the rhythm of the agricultural year. (A stork is an animal six to 12 months old.)

Summer in Gaelic culture means outdoor life – young family members stay in the hills to watch the animals graze, renovate the thatch on the family home, grow and harvest crops.

Winter meant staying indoors for longer periods of time, limiting stored food.

Samhain became an occasion for one last celebration of nature before a longer period indoors.

Seasonal duties were completed. Animals not likely to survive would be killed, some of the meat would be preserved and some would be used in shared meals.

A bonfire will be lit for the final outdoor party, which will also provide warmth, invoking protection and fertility.

Fire was probably a way to mimic the sun’s warmth and light – keeping the darkness of winter at bay, propitiating the old gods or new saints and warding off evil.

There is also a long-standing Celtic belief that at liminal times like Samhain – between summer and winter – the veil between the human and spirit worlds was especially thin.

This meant that otherworldly beings or spirits, especially the spirits of ancestors, could be found roaming our world.

The forerunners of our modern trick-or-treaters

Various Samhain activities, recorded from the early 18th century, reflect uneasiness about the possibility of encountering spirits, but also the fun of the bonfire party.

Many involve divination: attempts to predict future spouses, or otherwise predict the future, are particularly widely recorded.

Acts of mischief by unknown perpetrators (likely teenagers), not all of whom were altruistic, were also common at Samhain in parts of Scotland and Ireland.

About the author

Gates can be removed and hidden, meaning livestock can wander through. The chimney may be blocked by soot, trapping smoke in the house. Vegetables may be thrown at houses, wheels taken off carts, boats pulled above the waterline, or chamber pots tied to doors.

Some people carved hideous faces into turnips, into which a light (usually smoldering peat or embers in rural areas, but sometimes a candle) was inserted. This may have originated from the practice of carrying smoldering peat to light the way, or it may have arisen from the idea of ​​preemptively scaring away any spirits wandering abroad. This is the likely origin of today’s pumpkin carving.

Perhaps the unique combination of restlessness and fun gave rise to the most widespread Samhain activity: guiding.

Guizers may be considered the forerunners of our modern trick-or-treaters, but it wasn’t just a case of dressing up as your favorite character or donning a cute witch’s hat.

Guizzers can be really scary, especially for small children.

For example, in the island of South Uist, painted features on masks made of sheep skin were often combined with straw wigs and old clothing or animal skins that hid the form of the person inside. Sometimes sheep skulls may also be added.

Before accepting scones or other food and going on their way, guizers would visit neighboring homes, and challenge the homeowners to guess their identity, perhaps reciting poems, riddles, or songs.

There are two explanations as to why guidance began.

For one thing, by hiding their identity, fraudsters will be able to avoid any hostile spirits trying to harm them.

Secondly, the impostors were imitating the spirits of the ancestors themselves, and were trying to scare others.

Both are probably true. The idea that the evening would be turned into an exchange of songs, stories, and food is certainly the origin of modern trick-or-treating.

All traditions change with time

In the 18th and 19th centuries, during the infamous Highland Clearances and the Great Irish Famine, a large proportion of the rural population of Scotland and Ireland – often against their will – were relocated to North America.

In those shifting settlements, what could be more natural than reproducing these familiar, and perhaps comforting, rituals of home?

The name Halloween refers to the Christian tradition of All Souls’ Day falling on November 1: the night before is All Souls (or All Hallows’) Eve, which became Halloween. As with many other important dates, it appears to have been linked to the pre-existing Samhain festival.

Halloween, as we now know it, is certainly heavily influenced by North America, but if we look closely, we can still see traces of much older Celtic beliefs.

We can embrace the idea of ​​marking the change of seasons without adopting the whole package.