With the coming of the crisp autumn air and the daylight wanes, we meet the climax of the warm seasons with the celebration of Halloween. A Gaelic holiday filled with mystery and frightful scares, Halloween has captured the imagination of many across the world and has become a staple holiday of all ages.
While it originates from a more austere and agrarian background, its practice is often misunderstood to be a time of sorcery and occultist delights. As such, it has received criticism and scorn from fundamentalists for its ‘satanic’ nature. To truly understand the nature of Halloween, also known as Samhain, let’s explore the origins of this holiday and observe how it has evolved into the form we know today.
The Origins of Samhain
Samhain is a pre-Christian holiday celebrated on November 1st and represents the Celtic New Year, where the nights begin to grow longer and the day shortens. This seasonal transition also has a supernatural element, where the boundary between the living and the dead were most transparent. Eamonn Kelly, former Keeper of Antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland, states “Samhain was a time when doorways to the spirit world were opened, allowing the dead to visit the living world. Some spirits were considered friendly, while others were not, and the Celts created ways to appease them. Food or sacrificial offerings were left outside homes and, in another tradition, revelers visited homes in costumes or disguises and recited poems or verses—all origins of trick or treating.”
Due to its supernatural nature, Samhain was a day to conduct rituals for divination purposes as it was also considered a day when the barrier between the past and present is the most transparent. On the site of Tlachtga, also known as the Hill of Ward, there is evidence of ritual activity dedicated to the eponymous sun goddess Tlachtga. This includes the remains of a possible passage tomb and signs of blacksmithing and glasswork, activities that would have been considered magical at the time.
While Samhain, and its Brittonic counterpart Galan Gaeaf, are typically seen as Insular Celtic holidays, there is evidence that it was a universal Celtic holiday. In the article Celtic Sacrifice, Jeremiah Dandroy examines the remains found at a ceremonial site in Anatolia. He argues, “Based on their age at death, the animals in this large deposit were slaughtered in the fall. And it was in the fall that Celtic groups in Europe celebrated Samhain. Around November 1 each year, herds of domestic animals were brought from their summer pasture and culled, the herdsmen slaughtering weak animals that could not survive the winter.”
While the holiday may have a cultic past, it was fundamentally a pastoral holiday associated with the harvest season’s end. In the latter half of the year, also known as the ‘dark half of the year,’ it was a time for storytelling and bonfires. In The Learned Tales of Ireland, Proinsias Mac Cana argues that the time from Samhain to Beltaine was considered the ‘season’ for storytelling lending itself the name ó Shamhain go Bealtaine still in use today. We find evidence of storytelling on Samhain in several tales, including Adventures of Nera where the titular character embarks on a journey into the Otherworld. In this context, storytelling was not for the sake of entertainment but for the cultivation and protection of cultural memory.
Emergence of All Saints Day
Within the fifth century, the celebration of Samhain began to wane while sites like Tlachtga became a site for royalty and religious leaders to meet. Rather than dissipating in the march of time, Samhain was adopted into Western Christianity as a new holiday: All Hallows Eve. Originally intended to be a syncretic endeavor for evangelistic purposes, All Saints Day was moved from May 13th to November 1st in the seventh century. In The Dangers of the Search for Authenticity? The Ethics of Hallowe’en, M.J. Toswell states the holiday was, “firmly placed there by Louis the Pious in 845 at the behest of Pope Gregory IV. All Souls’ Day, with its connection to the rise of purgatory, appears to have had its early appearances in the ninth century, caught on at Cluny in the eleventh century, and became official dogma in 1274.” What was once known as a day for contacting the dead through rituals, All Hallows Eve became a Christian holiday to commemorate the saints’ lives affirming the bond between the Church militant and Church triumphant.
While the holiday itself changed significantly, many of the folk practices continued to be observed including trick or treating. "Halloween is the direct descendant of Samhain and has managed to survive through the centuries in spite of the 'tacking on' of All Saints' Day by those who Christianized Ireland," says Kelly, "The spooky stuff that we associate with Halloween, such as ghosts, the dead entering our world, and communing with spirits, can be traced to Samhain, which centuries of Christian tradition never completely managed to stamp out.”
How to Celebrate Halloween Today
By examining the history of Samhain and how it gradually transformed into All Hallows Eve and Halloween, we can observe how the holiday has changed much like the seasons. What originated as the end of the harvest season, and a time for divination and cultic sacrifice, was transfigured into a day to commemorate the dead. While some may attempt to recreate the practices of a long-forgotten past, others dismiss the entire holiday as ‘satanic’ through association and ignorance. For those who wish for a more traditional way to observe the holiday, here are two means that I suggest:
The traditional Christian way is by observing All Hallows Eve, which includes visiting the grave sites of loved and offering flowers, candles, and blessings. Almsgiving in the form of ‘souling,’ where soul-cakes are made and given out to ‘soulers’ or the needy, is also a suitable practice. It is a time to remember all Christians who have come before us including both our loved ones and parishioners who have entered into peace.
A traditional Gaelic way is to gather up members of the Gaelic community for storytelling. This could be the Learned Tales of King Cormac, Fionn Mac Cumhaill, or the famous Cú Chulainn, or it could be more contemporary stories from one’s local area. Through this observance, the cultural memory of the Gaelic community is kept intact for generations to come.