A lot has been said recently about the origins of Halloween and whether or not it is an occult observance, innocuous fun, or something else all together. In fact, our modern day holiday of Halloween began by a declaration of the Pope in 835AD making it a Christian holiday, even though its roots are clearly older and pre-Christian.
The Celtic festival of Samhein is the oldest source of the present-day Halloween celebration. The Celts lived more than 2,000 years ago in what is now England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and northern France. Their new year began on November 1. A festival that began the previous evening honored Samhain, the Celtic lord of death. The celebration marked the beginning of the season of cold, darkness, and decay. The Celts believed that Samhein allowed the souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes just for this one evening each year.
Sometimes people were afraid that if the souls of the dead could come to earth they may try and take living people. To avoid this they would gather with the Druid priests around a large bonfire celebrating the New Year. At this bonfire they would sometimes wear animal costumes to trick the dead into thinking they were animals instead of people so they would not hurt them. That is one beginning of Halloween and that is where we get costumes from. Also, it is why Halloween is a “scary” holiday; because Samhein was a scary time for the ancient Celts.
In the year 43AD. the Romans began their conquest of the Celts. During the approximately 400 years they ruled, many of their traditions intertwined with those of the local Celts.
Feralia was a Roman celebration held in late October to honor the dead. Since Samhein came on the last day of October the timing was right to meld the observance of the two. Feralia gave a kind of approval for Romans to observe Samhein making it more than just a local observance. It also introduced a broader air of festivity.
The other Roman festival which got intertwined with Samhein was the one honoring Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. This observance mixed with that of Samhein, but it also added something to the celebration ~ fruit. This is the origin of such Halloween treats as candied apples and the game bobbing for apples. Apples were plentiful at the Roman celebrations honoring Pomona and became a part of the Samhein observance as well.
As time went on, people were still scared of Samhein, and still thought that the dead walked the earth on this day, but some fun things had started to mix in with the tradition. There were bonfires and costumes, festivals and bobbing for apples!
In the year 835 Pope Gregory IV looked at these holiday traditions and decided it would be better to give some Christian perspectives to these celebrations. The Christian understanding is that one does not need to be afraid of death, and if the Christians would share their understanding of death, maybe everyone would be less afraid.
Pope Gregory declared November 1st to be All Saint’s Day, a day to honor the dead as Samhein and Feralia had done before, but now out of joy, not out of fear. To celebrate the saints a Mass was said on that day, it was called Allhallowsmas. So, the evening before became known as All Hallows Eve. Just like the night before Christmas is called Christmas Eve. Eventually the phrase All Hallows Eve got shortened to Halloween.
People liked All Saints Day ok, but it didn’t completely take away the fear since it was only for “the Saints”, not all of the dead. In the 10th century another holiday was added by Odilo, abbot of Cluny, All Souls Day on November 2. That day everyone was asked to say prayers for all of the dead. Because people believed that more prayers were better a new tradition started. People willing to pray for other people’s families, would go door to door and ask for a treat, a soul cake they were called, and in exchange for the cake the person would offer prayers for that family’s relatives who had died. This started the Halloween tradition of Trick-or-Treating. The people that generally went door to door were beggars; and if they weren’t given cake, they would leave a trick of some kind.
In the 1600s immigrants from Ireland to America brought all of these customs to America and together they have become what we now know as Halloween. So in the end, Halloween is not an occult practice. It is a day that has come about because good people over the years have sought a way to understand death and how the living are to deal with their fear of death. To be less afraid is something we can all use! So now you know the rest of the story, “fear not!”
