W

hat’s the Western World's oldest holiday?  If you guessed Halloween, you're probably right.  In fact, Halloween dates all the way back to the fifth century B.C. With such longevity, it shouldn't be surprising that, far from the rather insignificant kiddies night it's become today, Halloween was once a matter of life and death. Literally!

Originating in Ireland, Halloween was first known as the Vigil of Samhain and was considered the last day of the growing season and, therefore, the last day of the calendar year.  The Erse (the ancient Irish) believed there were only two seasons: summer and winter.  Samhain, the Erse god of winter/darkness was said to begin his six-month reign on this chilly autumnal date.  So, in the interests of assuring that summer would return come May Day, these sun worshippers made human sacrifices on October 31st.  It was their hope that this bloodletting would give the sun the strength it needed to do half a year of battle with Samhain and return to make their crops grow once more.

The Romans outlawed such human sacrifice in Ireland in 61 A.D., yet sporadic Halloween killings continued to occur.  This was largely because the Vigil of Samhain had come to represent a crack in time to the Celts, an occasion on which the world of the living could be invaded by that of the dead.  And the fear that ill-meaning disembodied spirits might take possession of the quick gave rise to the wearing of fearsome costumes in order to scare them off.  So strong was this belief in fact, that those caught without a costume were simply assumed to be possessed and often burnt at the stake as a result.  The fact that the word bonfire (another Irish Halloween tradition) was once 'bone fire' seems to bear this out.

Though Christianity was brought to Ireland by 430 A.D. and the Church was quick to overlay All Hallowmas on this pagan holiday, it appears that, save for human sacrifice, all of the Vigil's traditions have survived to the present day.  What we now know as trick-or-treating began as costumed processions of  Ersemen and women gathering offerings in the name of one of their deities. Those who contributed generously were assured of prosperity in the coming year.  Those who didn't were told that a terrible curse would be put upon them by the god Muck Olla. Thus the term 'tricker-treating' (surprisingly not found in written English until roughly the year 1947) was pretty well matched to the practice's origins.

Today's jack o'-lanterns were the lit vessels these first trick-or-treaters carried to illuminate their way as they traveled through the night's darkness from one tribe to the next.  Their jack-o'-lanterns were carved with frightening faces, as we do with ours today, but with one important difference.  The Erse's lanterns were far more portable because they were carved turnips, rather than pumpkins.  Being indigenous to North America, pumpkins weren't put to this use until the 1840's, when Ireland's potato famine forced so many of her people to immigrate to the pumpkin-growing turf of New England.

 

 

 

 

Those not gathering offerings for Muck Olla during these ancient Halloween celebrations kept watch in their tribe's graveyard for the spirits of clansmen who had died in the past year.  If any among the living chanced to see his own image amidst the ghost-ridden air of this mystical eve, it was said to be an omen of his approaching demise.  Thus this Vigil gave rise to a great deal of soothsaying. October 31st was (and still is) believed to be a date on which one's fortune could be told with far more accuracy than usual.

An Ancient Halloween Procession

(an original illustration by Terry Jacobsen)

 

And what of our All Hallows image of an unlucky black cat arching its back and hissing?  This too is Irish in origin, for the Celts felt that many unfortunate souls were condemned to return to the earth after death as such 'lower' life forms.

Now, lest I leave you with the impression that Halloween is purely a Celtic holiday, it should be noted the Romans 'Feast of Pompon' (the Goddess of Orchards) gave rise to the traditions of bobbing for apples and placing lit candles in hollowed out gourds to scare off evil spirits.  The second of these must also have contributed to our practice today of carving and lighting scary-faced jack-o'-lanterns.

It was also a Celtic belief that those born on October 31st and its opposing six-month date of April 30th are more likely than most to be able to communicate with the deceased.  Well, I'm living proof of the wisdom of the ancients!  Born on the last day of April, I now work as both a medium and psychic with hundreds of clients in the U.S. and abroad. 

 

For more insights into the afterlife and future events, please visit Janice at www.JaniceCarlson.com. Writing as Ashland Price, Janice has published more than 12 books with many of them medieval romances.

 

Note from the editor: Click on underlined words to go directly to a speaking dictionary.

 

 

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