The Origins of Halloween (Advanced reading)

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It was a dark night at the end of the summer, hundreds of years ago, when our Celtic
ancestors celebrated the autumn Sabbath known as Samhain (pronounced “Sow-In”) – the
Witches New Year.

In those days, autumn was a time for harvesting the last of the crops, feasting and
celebrating the end of the year. This was well before our modern form of calendar was
created, and many people simply considered autumn to be the end of the year, as the
season quickly changes into winter – the time of “great death“. Winter was the time when
snow blanketed the ground, chilling crops, animals and people to the bone. No
sustainable crops were able to be grown in winter, so the fall harvest season was
especially important. The bounty that came in at the end of the year was a forecast of
how well a family would do over the winter. If the crops were plentiful, they would likely
have an easier time over the cold months. If the crops were meager due to fire, flood or
not enough nutrients in the soil, then the winter would be hard.

Back then, the rumor was, that during the end of the year, when the earth traveled from
the busy autumn season into the dead of winter, that the etheric veil between our world
and the otherworld’s, would be lifted in order to make the transition possible. During this
transition, it was believed that entities and spirits that would not normally be able to co-
exist on this wave-length with us, could cross over and create all sorts of mischief. Now,
before the christian era took over, this time of year was a time of celebration. The clans
and tribes of western Europe – who began the traditions followed by most Canadian,
American and European cultures to this day – thought of the transition as a powerful
time to make connections with higher deities, and to use various forms of magic to safe
guard them over the winter. This was because most of the dogmas of that time,
worshipped the moon. During the autumn season, the largest and most colorful full
moon, the Harvest Moon, can be seen taking over the night sky. It was because the
harvest moon appears on different days of the year, that the Halloween of that era, was
not on any specific day. It came when the crops were all picked, and the moon was full in
the fall.

Now, as the cultural times began to change, and Abrahamic religions had seriously
spread across western Europe, the silly faeries, malevolent gnomes, strange but
harmless ghosts and funny little brownies that were once an aid to farmers and hunters
– soon became dangerous little demons, frightening specters and devious spirits that
could harm crops, steal children and scare the skin color out of the most courageous
person. It was the fear of even stranger and scarier beings coming through the
weakened veil in the fall, which inspired the tradition of wearing masks and dawning
costumes. It was thought, at the time, that by dressing up as ghoulish goblins, creepy
creatures, strange animals, fairies and other not-human beings, that we could trick the

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dangerous spirits into believing they were not in our realm. It was this theory that had
adults and children wearing masks and costumes, if they were planning any ventures
outside of their homes on all hallows eve.

Over time our cultures evolved and spread across the earth, taking their traditions with
them. It was the Irish, Scottish and Welsh who had brought the most influence to Canada
and America, when it comes to holidays like Halloween. Some of those customs evolved
into the traditions we know today.

Trick or Treating used to be a druidic custom when it first began. Because of the belief
that malevolent spirits would try to play tricks on you when the veil between the worlds
is so thin (tricks that could result in harsh winters and destroyed harvests), they gave
treats to the druids, asking them to bless their homes and appease the spirits so they
would leave them alone. Now, the treats of that age were certainly not the over-
processed sugar filled sweets that we see today. They were eggs, butter, apples, cheese,
breadcake, money and barnbrack (a special fruitcake). These were seen as items that the
wayward spirits and strange other beings, would eat or use and be sated enough to
leave the people alone. As time went on, and the druids were pushed out of society, a
new but similar tradition took hold, where beggars would go around to the people’s
doors and receive “soul cakes” in exchange for their prayers. The more cakes the
beggars got, the more prayers they sent out for the passed loved ones of the folks who
handed out the bread cakes. It was believed that the more prayers that were said for a
recently dead loved one, the more likely they were to make a safe passage into their next
life.

Bobbing for Apples, Riding Broomsticks, Big Bonfires and Halloween Masquerade were
all traditions carried over from Celtic times. Interestingly enough, the use of Pumpkins
was one of the largest differences between the original Celtic traditions and the newer
Canadian and American traditions. In Ireland, children used to carve jack-o-lanterns out
of potatoes and turnips, as a way of remembering the dead. They didn’t have Pumpkins,
as it is primarily a fruit that grows here in North America. Sometime after pumpkins were
discovered by a French explorer, they began to replace potatoes in the North American
version of Halloween. Now we can clearly see them decorating our communities in the
forms of lit up jack-o-lanterns, candy buckets and cute little baby costumes.

All in all, Halloween is a tradition that has stood the test of the ages. It has changed and
changed again, and will continue to do so, as we do, yet forever hold on to its origins. As
we know it today, it is still a time for remembrance and winter preparations, though for
the most part, it’s just fun.

References:

Samhain – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

Exercise:

– list all the phrases and words that are new to you. Find the meanings and make two
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additional sentences using the pattern or word.

Comprehension:

1. In your own words, summarize the origin of trick or treating.

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