The Not-So-Scary Origins of Halloween

[deutsey]

http://www.midshorelife.com/content/not-so-scary-origins-halloween



SNIP

In fact, most sources agree that the Gaelic word Samhain, which literally means “end of summer,” simply refers to a harvest festival celebrating the beginning of winter in pre-Christian Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. Like many such Pagan festivals throughout Eurasia, this autumnal festival combined the agricultural cycle with a deep reverence for dead ancestors.

In a fascinating essay entitled “Samhain: Season of Death and Renewal,” neo-Pagan researcher Alexei Kondratiev notes how the Celts believed that when we die, we pass on from this world to “the primordial chaos of the Otherworld where all fertility has its roots.” Kondratiev says that as the year itself died, they also believed the boundaries separating the structured world of the living and the chaotic Otherworld momentarily collapsed.

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[kestrel91316]

1. Reminds me of that old rhyme:

Samhain is coming,
The pumpkin is getting fat.
Please put a penny in the witch's hat.

(with apologies to Yule)

[Warpy]

2. The harvest festival was actually Lughnasadh

Samhain was the Celtic New Year, the death of the old year along with all the plants that sustain life and the time everything was renewed for the coming year. It was a solemn festival, while Lughnasadh was more of a joyous one.

With the veil between the two worlds the thinnest, people went about in disguise so that old enemies who had predeceased them would be fooled. The story of the poor begging in disguise to cover their shame was one I'd never heard before, but anybody who turned down helping someone who was poorer than he was could expect retaliation by the whole community. However, dead friends and family were expected to attend the feast and places were set for them.

A lot of the old Celtic traditions have been preserved by Hispanic cultures that celebrate el dio de los muertos, generally on November 1.

The article is spot on about the slasher movies. They have nothing whatever to do with the festival.

[deutsey]

3. Thanks for the clarification!

:hi:

[MorningGlow]

4. Samhain/Halloween only got "scary" when it was co-opted by the Christians

Anything "not Christian" was deemed "of the devil" (hence the reason that "pagan" has been now equated with "all things godless and evil", and only now are we reclaiming its true meaning of living in accordance with nature). When the Christians got their highly effective PR machines rolling, they managed not only to squash Samhain under the bootheel of All Souls Day, but also to change the overall perception of Halloween, making its elements things to be feared.

[deutsey]

5. As you probably know, many conservative Christians see Halloween as "satanic"

I know someone who dreads this time of year because in her mind it celebrates evil.

What a way to go through life.

[MorningGlow]

6. Yeah--thousands of years of that mighty PR machine ingrains some shit pretty deeply

Too bad, really. Samhain is one of our most important sabbats and a very powerful holiday. Pagans regard the borderlands as very magical places, and this borderland between summer and winter, coupled with the celebration of the completed harvest and a night where we can commune with our departed loved ones on the other side of the Veil, makes for a very dramatic night.

I feel sorry for the people who fear so much. They really miss out.

[struggle4progress]

7. Fixing All Hallows Day as 1 November seems to have occurred in Rome in the eighth century,

though it was not celebrated Churchwide until somewhat after. Hallows Eve, of course, refers to the night before. The Roman empire collapsed in the fifth century, around the time of the conversion of the Celts. So to argue that an attempt to absorb Celtic customs influenced the fixing of the date for All Hallows Day is simply incoherent: the original date was a local custom in the vicinity of Rome, that was only later extended to all Christendom