Halloween
{A compilation and combination of material from Wikipedia by Tom Poelker}Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of its original title "All Hallows' Evening"), also known as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows. According to some scholars, All Hallows' Eve was originally influenced by western European harvest festivals and festivals of the dead with possible pagan roots, particularly the Celtic Samhain. Others maintain that it originated independently of Samhain, and has Christian roots. Over time, the night of October 31 came to be called All Hallows' Eve (or All Hallows' Even). Samhain influenced All Hollows' Eve and vice-versa, and the two eventually morphed into the secular holiday known as Halloween.
All Saints and its Eve
The Western Christian holiday of All Saints' Day falls on 1 November, followed by All Souls' Day on 2 November. They were a time for honoring the saints and praying for the recently departed who had yet to reach Heaven.The origin of the festival of All Saints celebrated in the West dates to 13 May 609 or 610, when Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs; the feast of the dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres has been celebrated at Rome ever since. There is evidence that from the fifth through the seventh centuries there existed in certain places and at sporadic intervals a feast date on 13 May to celebrate the holy martyrs. The origin of All Saints' Day cannot be traced with certainty, and it has been observed on various days in different places. However, there are some who maintain the belief that it has origins in the pagan observation of 13 May, the Feast of the Lemures, in which the malevolent and restless spirits of the dead were propitiated. Liturgiologists base the idea that this Lemuria festival was the origin of that of All Saints on their identical dates and on the similar theme of "all the dead".
The feast of All Saints, on its current date, is traced to the foundation by Pope Gregory III (731–741) of an oratory in St. Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world", with the day moved to 1 November and the 13 May feast suppressed.
In 835, Louis the Pious switched it to 1 November in the Carolingian Empire, at the behest of Pope Gregory IV.[46] However, from the testimony of Pseudo-Bede, it is known that churches in what are now England and Germany were already celebrating All Saints on 1 November at the beginning of the 8th century. Thus, Louis merely made official the custom of celebrating it on 1 November. James Frazer suggests that 1 November was chosen because it was the date of the Celtic festival of the dead (Samhain) – the Celts had influenced their English neighbors, and English missionaries had influenced the Germans. However, Ronald Hutton points out that, according to Óengus of Tallaght (d. ca. 824), the 7th/8th century church in Ireland celebrated All Saints on 20 April. He suggests that the 1 November date was a Germanic rather than a Celtic idea. The octave [Eight days of celebration including and following a feast.] was added by Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484).
By the end of the 12th century they had become holy
days of obligation across Europe and involved such traditions as
ringing bells for the souls
in purgatory.
"Souling", the custom of baking and sharing soul
cakes for "all crysten christened
souls", has been suggested as the origin of trick-or-treating.
Groups of poor people, often children, would go door-to-door on All
Saints/All Souls collecting soul cakes, originally as a means of
praying for souls in purgatory. Similar practices for the souls of
the dead were found as far south as Italy. Shakespeare
mentions the practice in his comedy The
Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master
of "puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas."
The custom of wearing costumes has been linked to All Saints/All
Souls by Prince Sorie Conteh, who wrote: "It was traditionally
believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All
Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the
dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next
world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might
be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes to
disguise their identities". In Halloween: From Pagan Ritual
to Party Night, Nicholas Rogers explained Halloween
jack-o'-lanterns as originally being representations of souls in
purgatory. In Brittany children would set candles in skulls in
graveyards
In Britain, these customs came under
attack during the Reformation
as Protestants
berated purgatory as a "popish"
doctrine incompatible with the notion of predestination.
This, coupled with the rising popularity of Guy
Fawkes Night (5 November) from 1605 onward, led to Halloween's
popularity waning in Britain, with the noteworthy exception of
Scotland. There and in Ireland, they had been celebrating Samhain and
Halloween since at least the early Middle
Ages, and the Scottish kirk
took a more pragmatic approach to Halloween, seeing it as important
to the life cycle and rites
of passage of communities and thus ensuring its survival in the
country.
The festival of All Saints was retained after the Reformation
in the calendar of the Anglican
Church and in many Lutheran
churches. In the Lutheran churches, such as the Church
of Sweden, it assumes a role of general commemoration of the
dead. In the Swedish
calendar, the observance takes place on the Saturday between 31
October and 6 November. In many Lutheran Churches, it is moved to the
first Sunday of November. In the Church
of England it may be celebrated either on 1 November or on the
Sunday between 30 October and 5 November. It is also celebrated by
other Protestants
of the English tradition, such as the United
Church of Canada, the Methodist
churches, and the Wesleyan
Church.Protestants generally regard all true Christian believers as saints and if they observe All Saints Day at all they use it to remember all Christians both past and present. In the United Methodist Church, All Saints' Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in November. It is held, not only to remember Saints, but also to remember all those who have died who were members of the local church congregation. In some congregations, a candle is lit by the Acolyte as each person's name is called out by the clergy. Prayers and responsive readings may accompany the event. Often, the names of those who have died in the past year are affixed to a memorial plaque.
In many Lutheran churches, All Saints' Day and Reformation Day are observed concurrently on the Sunday before or after those dates, given Reformation Day is observed in Protestant Churches on 31 October. Typically, Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" is sung during the service. Besides discussing Luther's role in the Protestant Reformation, some recognition of the prominent early leaders of the Reformed tradition, such as John Calvin and John Knox, occurs. The observance of Reformation Day may be immediately followed by a reading of those members of the local congregation who have died in the past year in observance of All Saints' Day. Otherwise, the recognition of deceased church members occurs at another designated portion of the service.
November First and Samhain
When All Saints was moved to 1 November, it fell on the Celtic holiday of Samhain, [(säÆwin) a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year. Most commonly it is held on 31 October–1 November, or halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Along with Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh it makes up the four Gaelic seasonal festivals. ] which had a theme similar to the Roman festival of Lemuria, but which was also a harvest festival. The Irish, having celebrated Samhain in the past, did not celebrate All Hallows Day on this 1 November date, as extant historical documents attest that the celebration in Ireland took place in the spring: "...the Felire of Oengus and the Martyrology of Tallaght prove that the early medieval churches [in Ireland] celebrated the feast of All Saints on April 20."Samhain is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature. Many important events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain. It was the time when cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures and when livestock were slaughtered for the winter. In much of the Gaelic world, bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them, as at Beltane. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Samhain (like Beltane) was seen as a time when the 'door' to the Otherworld opened enough for the souls of the dead, and other beings, to come into our world. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them. It has thus been likened to a festival of the dead. People also took steps to protect themselves from harmful spirits, which is thought to have led to the custom of guising. Divination was also done at Samhain.
Samain or Samuin was the
name of the feis or festival marking the beginning of winter
in Gaelic
Ireland. It is attested in some of the earliest Old
Irish literature, from the 10th century onward. It was one of
four Gaelic seasonal festivals: Samhain (~1 November), Imbolc
(~1 February), Beltane
(~1 May) and Lughnasadh
(~1 August). Samhain and Beltane, at the witherward side of the year
from each other, are thought to have been the most important.
Sir James George Frazer wrote in The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion that 1 May and 1 November are of little importance to European crop-growers, but of great importance to herdsmen. It is at the beginning of summer that cattle is driven to the upland summer pastures and the beginning of winter that they are led back, which was also the time to choose which animals would need to be slaughtered for the people to survive the winter. This custom is still observed by many who farm and raise livestock because it is when meat will keep since the freeze has come and also since summer grass is gone and free foraging is no longer possible.
Thus, Frazer suggests that halving the year at 1 May and 1 November
dates from a time when the Celts were mainly a pastoral people,
dependent on their herds. In medieval Ireland the festival marked the
end of the season for trade and warfare and was an ideal date for
tribal gatherings. These gatherings are a popular setting for early
Irish tales.
Samhain (like Beltane)
was a time when the 'door' to the Otherworld
opened enough for fairies and the dead to communicate with us; but
while Beltane was a summer festival for the living, Samhain "was
essentially a festival for the dead". The
Boyhood Deeds of Fionn says that the sídhe
(fairy mounds or portals to the fairy world) "were always open
at Samhain". Like Beltane, Lughnasadh
and Imbolc, Samhain
also involved great feasts. Mythology suggests that drinking alcohol
was part of the feast, and it is noteworthy that every tale that
features drunkenness is said to take place at Samhain.
In Scotland, these bonfires were called
samhnagan, and they were usually made from flammable materials
like ferns, tar-barrels, and anything else that would burn. In the
late 18th century, John Ramsay of Ochtertyre
wrote that, in that part of Scotland, a ring of stones was laid round
the fire to represent each person. Everyone then ran round it with a
torch, "exulting".
In the morning, the stones were examined and if any was mislaid it
was said that the person for whom it was set would not live out the
year. A similar practise was observed in north Wales and in Brittany.
James Frazer says that this may come from "an older custom of
actually burning them" (i.e. human
sacrifice).
In Moray,
boys asked for bonfire fuel from each house in the village. When the
fire was lit, "one after another of the youths laid himself down
on the ground as near to the fire as possible so as not to be burned,
and in such a position as to let the smoke roll over him. The others
ran through the smoke and jumped over him". It is likely that
the smoke was thought to have protective powers.
In 19th century northeast Scotland,
people carried a torch of fir wood around their fields to protect
them. On South
Uist, people did likewise with burning turf. Sometimes, two
bonfires would be built side by side, and the people—sometimes with
their livestock—would walk between them as a ritual of
purification. The bones
of slaughtered cattle were said to have been cast upon bonfires. In
the pre-Christian Gaelic world, cattle were the main unit of currency
and the center of agricultural and pastoral life.
In some parts, people doused their
hearth fires on Samhain night. Each family then solemnly lit its
hearth from the communal bonfire, thus bonding the families of the
village together. In the 17th century, Geoffrey Keating wrote that
the druids of ancient Ireland would gather on Tlachta
on Samhain night to kindle a sacred fire. From this, every bonfire in
the land was lit, and from thence every home in the land relit their
hearth, which had been doused that night. However, his source is
unknown, and Ronald Hutton supposes that Keating had mistaken a
Beltane custom for a Samhain one]
As noted earlier, beings and souls from the Otherworld were said to come into our world at Samhain. It is still the custom in some areas to set a place at the Samhain feast for the souls of dead kinfolk and to tell tales of one's forebears. However, the souls of thankful kin could return to bestow blessings just as easily as that of a murdered person could return to wreak revenge. Fairies were thought to steal humans on Samhain and fairy mounds were to be avoided. People took steps to allay or ward-off these harmful spirits and fairies. They stayed near to home or, if forced to walk in the darkness, turned their clothing inside-out or carried iron or salt to keep the fairies at bay. Offerings of food were left at the door for the fairies to ensure their favor in the coming year. Turnip lanterns, sometimes with faces carved into them, were common at Samhain in the 19th century in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. The purpose of these lanterns may have been threefold. They may have been used to light one's way while outside on Samhain night; to represent the spirits and otherworldly beings; and/or to protect oneself and one's home from them. Bettina Arnold writes that they were sometimes set on windowsills to keep them out of one's home However, others suggest that they originated with All Saints/All Souls and that they represented Christian souls in purgatory.
Divination has likely been a part of the festival since ancient times, and it has survived in some rural areas. The most common uses were to find out the identity of one's future spouse, the location of one's future home, and how many children one might have. Seasonal foods such as apples and nuts were often eaten in these rituals. Apples were peeled, the peel tossed over the shoulder, and its shape examined to see if it formed the first letter of the future spouse's name. Nuts were roasted on the hearth and their behavior interpreted - if the nuts stayed together, so would the couple. Egg whites were dropped in water, and the shapes foretold the number of future children. Children would also chase crows and divine some of these things from the number of birds or the direction they flew.
A Samhain custom thought to be a survival of a pagan ritual was observed on Iona until the late 18th century and on Lewis until the early 19th. On 31 October, the locals would go down to the shore. One man would wade into the water up to his waist, where he would pour out a cup of ale and ask 'Seonaidh' (anglicized as 'Shoney')—likely an old pagan god—to bestow blessings on them.
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