Halloween is upon us; it is in the shops front and centre, and it will be at our doors in a matter of days. It is, surprisingly, the oldest of our traditions, reaching back to pre-Christian society, which is hard to reconcile with the commercialised and commodified occasion it has become. Remote from its roots, echoes of its origins do cling on.
When it all started
There is a broad consensus that the festival derives from a combination of pagan, specifically a Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced ‘So-ween’), and the Christian festival of All Hallows, specifically, All Hallows Eve.
The existence of a pan-Celtic belief system is uncertain, but there is evidence that ancient Britons marked the onset of winter with a feast. It was a time to stock up on supplies and consume the livestock that wouldn’t survive the winter months. This time of transition, so the pagan authorities tell us, is also the time of year when the veil between the spirit world and ours is at its thinnest, the dead mingling with the living.
All Hallows Eve
For Christians, All Hallows is a feast to remember the saints that didn’t have their day in the Christian calendar hence it became known as All Saints. All Hallows Eve, which coincides with Halloween, was a day of fasting and prayer to contemplate God’s good works of the year prior. Pope Boniface of the 7th century originally set the day as 13 May. In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III moved the feast date to 1 November, hence the conclusion that Christianity ‘redeemed all things pagan.’
Then & Now
So, what does our current Halloween have in common with the former events? Ghosts.
The Celts were marking the passing of those who had died that year and expected the return of their spiritual presence but did not fear them. Christians remember the saints in heaven.
Today, its ghouls and demons are sponsored by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but there is at least a pretence of the supernatural. Feasting. There is a culture of excess, albeit of Selection Boxes rather than livestock. When England’s villagers slaughtered animals, they made bone fires with the carcasses, the word drifting to the bonfire, a practice now threatened by prevailing safetyism.
When Christendom was catholic, and purgatory was a certainty for some, on All Hallows Eve, the poor would knock on doors and offer to pray for souls in return for something to eat, possibly the origin of trick or treat. Irish immigrants were among the largest groups of Catholics who settled in the USA and may have been influential in establishing All Hallows there. There is also their folklore which includes the tale of Stingy Jack. Jack was expelled from hell itself and condemned to walk the earth carrying a hollowed-out turnip with a lighted candle inside.
The religious and supernatural essence of old Halloween or Samhain has now been drowned beneath commercial interests and TV ratings.
Contemporary Halloween is overwhelmingly aimed at children. But what remains is the sense that this is a time of transition, a gateway to a new time of year.
Here in Heptonstall, winter certainly makes its presence felt. It is believed that the Celts didn’t fear the dead, or even death, because they thought it was life lived elsewhere. I like winters here; Heptonstall is more itself; what light there is suits it better.
There are village get-togethers, and fires are lit in the pubs; it’s a great pleasure to pop in for a pint and a warm. It would be futile to advocate a return to Halloween’s roots; we are far too rational and removed from the natural world to summon such sensibilities. But a nod to the past might do. Raise a glass or break open a Bounty bar to those we lost this last year. Remember them at their finest. Take stock. Think about the winter head. Make some plans.
Michael Crowley