Halloween

Happy Halloween to all Night Worlders! You all know about this special occasion and just FYI, we decided to bring you a bit of information about it. Halloween was started by the Celts many centuries ago to honour the dead. They believed that spirits of people as well as spirits of fruits and vegetables would visit the earth on that night so they would build enormous bonfires to scare away the bad ones and have great feasts to celebrate the spirits of family and friends.

Later on, the Christians began to celebrate November 1st as All Saints’ or All Hallows Day, wanting a defence against the spirits whom the Celts “worshipped”, thinking they were evil. Thus the day before (31st of October) became All Hallows Eve which was then shortened to Hallowe’en and now to Halloween. The day after All Saints’ Day became All Souls’ Day on which the Christians would pray that the souls of those who had died would be allowed to enter Heaven. This three-day festival was called “Hallow Tide”.

Then there was Samain. He was the Celtic Lord of Death and a long time ago, it was thought that he would visit earth on the last night of October. But that was also the New Year according to the Celtic calendar and so, while the Celts feasted in celebration, they would also light fires to dispel the demons and spirits that Samain released upon the earth.

The Christians, as we all can see, weren’t completely successful in breaking the Celtic traditions and although it has been commercialized almost beyond recognition, the way we celebrate Halloween still holds traces of the old ways.

Such as the way we dress up in costumes. People back then didn’t want the evil spirits plaguing them so they dressed up like them in the hopes that they would be ignored and consequently left alone. Children knock on doors and say “Trick or Treat” which is really something along the lines of “Give me lollies or else.” This is not unlike the belief that if anyone failed to honour the spirits on All Hallows Eve, they would use their powers on them.

And the Jack-o’-Lantern? What of the Jack-o’-Lantern, eh? you ask. Well Jack-o’-Lantern was well-known and there are three common beliefs.

The first is from the Celts. They believed Jack-o’-Lanterns to be the spirit of the pumpkin so they carved a smiling face into the pumpkin to symbolize his good intentions.

The next belief belongs to the Irish. They believed Jack-o’-Lantern was a restless spirit who was left in Purgatory because both Heaven and Hell rejected him. So he had to wander the earth carrying a lantern to light his dark way.

The last lies with common folklore. A long time ago, people used actual pumpkins as lanterns and to let the light out and also to scare away any faeries who might lead them astray, they carved frightening faces into the large vegetable.

LC Main