Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I love Halloween.
In my opinion, it’s ten times better than Christmas and Thanksgiving…combined. Think about it. It’s a holiday that breaks all of the rules. We dress up in outrageous costumes, stay out late roaming around after dark and take candy from strangers. It’s every kid’s dream come true.
But why? What is it about Halloween that captures our imagination?
Halloween really says a lot about us as a culture. Not only does it tip the hat to the olden days, when we were much more superstitious and afraid of the dark, it also gives us a chance to make light of our old fears and celebrate the season.
Truth be told, Halloween (as we know it today) is a mishmash of several older holidays. One of the oldest was Samhain, a Celtic holiday celebrating the end of the harvest season and honoring the dead. They built bonfires and “party-goers” dressed up in animal costumes while their druids told their fortunes.
When the Romans came to the British Isles, they brought with them two holidays of their own, combining them with the Celtic Samhain. The festival of Feralia was one of the days in the longer holiday Parentalia, which celebrated their ancestors and family members. Feralia had a more frightening theme, however. At midnight, the heads of the Roman families would attempt to banish the less benign family spirits back to the spirit world, preventing misfortune in the upcoming year. The next day they celebrated their success with feasts.
The second holiday the Romans brought with them was a celebration honoring the goddess Pomona. Pomona was a harvest goddess, so it only made sense that with the fall harvest coming in, a feast to offer thanks was in order.
It wasn’t until later that Christianity caught up on the Halloween fun. In 837 A.D., Pope Boniface IV declared that November 1st was All Saint’s Day, hoping to draw people into Christianity and away from the old celebrations. Like before, however, All Saint’s Day blended together with Samhain, Pomona and Feralia, rather than simply replacing them.
That’s great, you say, but what about trick or treat? Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.
Trick or treating actually started somewhere between the 10th and 14th centuries. Children would go door to door asking for “soul cakes” in return for prayers for the dead. It’s also thought that Celtic children would go door to door collecting firewood for the bonfires. It only made sense to add in the costumes!
Even with the history lesson in mind, why is Halloween still lingering around like the Ghost of Holidays Past? I think it has to do with two things:
- People love to party. Any reason we can come up with to celebrate will do. When better to have a holiday than when the leaves are turning every shade under the sun right before the cold weather sets in?
- We like being scared. Why else would horror flicks still be as popular as they are?
Halloween hearkens back to the days when our ancestors huddled around the fireplace telling each other scary stories and wondering what was really outside making those noises. Not so long ago, we lived in a time where ghosts and goblins and monsters seemed a very real threat. After all, it was only a few hundred years ago when we were afraid of witches. To this day, we still have ghost hunters looking for the things that go bump in the night.
We like being scared and remember a time when scary things were everywhere. Halloween lets us indulge in being scared while still being rational, modern individuals.
So this Halloween, when you and the other ghosts and ghouls are safe inside lording over your horde of candy and watching your favorite Halloween flick, take some time to really enjoy the season. Remember where it comes from and should something go bump in the night, relax. After all, it’s just a bunch of Hocus Pocus!
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