Halloween: Modern Holiday with Ancient Roots

The approach of winter is tangible now, even down here in sunny Florida the weather is getting colder and the greenery is entering its incubatory phase, preparing for the onset of cooler days. To our ancestors this season represented the advent of winter and October 31 was an important festival that marked the final harvest. After this night all crops unharvested were left to spoil with the belief that they now belonged to the spirits, an offering of sorts.

Digital art credit to Leah McNeir.
Be sure to check out her blog: http://celestialdreams.wordpress.com

The history of All Hallows Eve has been muddled by the course of time, with information on the true pagan origins of the holiday being scanty at best. If we dig deeply we discover Halloween has a three-pronged history divided between pagan practices, Christian practices, and the modern mythology that evolved with the holiday—like a pitchfork—they all meet at common indigenous beliefs; with a history that spans long before the Roman Empire or the birth of Christ.

While researching the history of Halloween you will soon discover how festivals of the dead sprung up all over the Northern Hemisphere in isolated native communities. Leading one to wonder is there something innately magical about this time, imbedded deep in the collective human psyche?

Across these cultures the end of October is viewed as a powerful time of the year. The common theme is the belief that during this particular time of the year, the veils between our world and the other-worlds are at their thinnest. Even Christianity adopted the 1st and 2nd of November as days to honor the departed.

Although there are a plethora of festivals celebrating death during this time, the one that has become most well-known through Neo-Pagan resurgence and Celtic Reconstructionist is Samhain. Literally meaning “summers end” in Gaelic, the ancient Celts believed Samhain to be “a night that exists outside of time, and hence it may be used to view any other point in time.”

Samhaintide—traditionally viewed as lasting between October 27 and November 4—is a powerful time for divination, but above all the season was regarded as a time to honor the dead and thank the Earth for all the gifts of the harvest before the onset of winter. Why did our Paleopagan ancestors celebrate death? Remember, our ancestors had no concept of heaven or hell, they embraced death as a natural part of our existence, and therefore did not fear it.

In modern times, Halloween has come to be a social holiday rather than a religious one. Children and adults alike find solace in a night where they can be whatever they want to be. To practitioners of magic and those embracing the natural forces of Earth, Samhain is a time to honor the departed, but in a wider sense, they honor all creatures as branches and roots of the wider existential tree. Ancestor practices such as these are the very oldest religious observances worldwide as evidenced by Neolithic archeological sites.

The flickers of Halloween’s long history have never lain themselves to rest. They cavort through the collective unconscious of the people, and surface again on October 31 to once again remind us of our ancestral roots.

So this Halloween, remember that all of our modern traditions and superstitions regarding this day have ancient origins. If only for a moment, be thankful for all that you have “harvested” this year; all the collective joys and lessons you have been through. Honor your ancestors, for because they lived you live as well. And finally, but possibly most importantly, take a moment to reflect on the natural beauty of our planet and all the bounties and gifts it truly bestows us with.

Happy October 31st!

Sources used for this article;
1. Mike Nichols. The Origins of Halloween. Colorado Springs, 1986.
2. Silver Ravenwolf. Halloween: Customs, Recipes, Spells. Llewellyn Publications, 1999.
3. "Not Just Halloween: Festivals of the Dead from around the World | EDSITEment."
<http://edsitement.neh.gov/not-just-halloween-festivals-dead-around-world>