Halloween: History, Lore, and Legend
“With more young adults getting in the spirit by throwing parties and having elaborate pumpkin carving contests, Halloween is no longer considered a children’s holiday,” said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch. “Halloween gives both kids and the young-at-heart an excuse to put on their scariest costume and indulge in their favorite treats.”
ORIGINS OF THE HOLIDAY
Halloween traditions began in modern United Kingdom, northern France and Ireland. These countries celebrated their new calendar year on November 1, a day that concluded the summer harvest period and began the dark wintertime that was directly associated with death. The Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, known as Samhain or the “Lord of Death,” that the separation between the living world and the dead one wasn’t apparent to the ghosts of the dead.
Throughout Samhain, these ghosts would return to the Earth. They would cause trouble and damage the harvest crops of the past season if food was not provided to them. With their presence, the Celtic priests could effectively make prophecies that were vital to the townspeople’s comfort toward the dark winter ahead.
Generally, the tradition of costume wearing began at this time when many people feared the return of these ghosts. They then wore costumes, usually of animal heads or skins, or dressed in others disguises and masks to attempt to look like the dead themselves. This would help put them out of harm’s way.
MODERN TRADITIONS
After the Romans’ conquered the area, they combined their own traditions of Feralia, a late October day that commemorated the passing of the dead with the Celts’ existing tradition of Samhain. Another Roman tradition was Pomona, the Roman goddess of the trees and fruit. The symbol for Pomona was an apple, thus the tradition of bobbing for apples began with the Romans.
As the spread of Christianity enveloped the land, November 1 was named All Saints’ Day, a day to honor saints and martyrs, by the Catholic Church. Many believe that the Catholic pope was attempting to replace the evil within this holiday. Later, the church created All Souls’ Day on November 2, in which the dead were honored.
The trick or treating tradition began with the All Souls’ Day parades in England where beggars would ask for food and they would receive soul cakes for a promise to pray for that family’s dead relatives. At the beginning of the 20th century, Halloween festivities began with communities urging parents to take the fright out of the celebrations.
Because of this, Halloween lost much of its nostalgia. The tradition continued as an affordable way to celebrate the holiday among a community. It was believed that if people offered treats, they could avoid any Halloween-related tricks on their property. In the 1950’s, communities began to make the holiday a more youth-oriented experience.
SPOOKS, MONSTERS, GHOULS
With the continual popularity of this tradition growing, its evolution throughout the years has created a series of spooks, monsters and ghouls that are associated with the haunting experiences. These fright factors add to the nostalgia of the occasion. Watch out; don’t let the monsters get you! The traditions of vampires, witches, werewolves and other haunting Halloween creatures have been presented to us through various outlets since we were young. However, the fantasy aspect of these creatures has a reality in the modern world.
MUMMY
Many archaeologists have increasingly been fascinated with the tombs of ancient Egypt. Most of these Pharaohs were made into mummies and buried with treasures to help them through their travels to the land of the dead. After a long search for several years by an English archaeologist, Howard Carter, the tomb of King Tut (Tutankhamen) was discovered containing gold and alabaster treasures. However, with this finding a curse was found on the door to Tut’s tomb. The inscription read: “Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the king…”
The inscription held true with many unfortunate occurrences happening because of this finding. Carter’s financial backer, Lord Carnarvon, died suddenly a few months later from an insect bite. When he died, all the lights in Cairo went out. At the same time, Carter’s dog in England howled and dropped dead shortly after. Tut’s body was unwrapped in 1925 and a wound on his face was directly aligned with the one that Carnarvon had because of his insect bite.
By 1929, nearly 11 people connected with the discovery of this tomb had died early of unnatural causes. It was later discovered in 1999 by a German microbiologist that deadly mold spores grew on mummies and could be lethal enough to kill a person. Thus, archaeologists could easily die as a result of a mummy.
WEREWOLF
The mystery of the werewolf has been showcased through various movies throughout the 20th century. However, the legend of this creature goes back for thousands of years. European folklore names werewolves as men who turns into wolves at night (usually after a full moon) and ate animals, corpses and/or people, and later returning to a human. Those bitten by a werewolf turn into one themselves. The belief of werewolves is called lycanthropy and occurs throughout the world. This disease typically occurs within people who believe in reincarnation.
WITCHES
The history of witches goes back to ancient Greek and Roman times. Most often known as devil worship, witchcraft in the 4th century began during the spread of Christianity. The Church forbids the pagan actions and nearly thousands of witches were tortured or killed over a period of hundreds of years. One time in particular, was the Salem Witch Trails in Salem, Massachusetts.
The association with Halloween began with a witch being described as an ugly hag with a toothless grin and a wart-filled face. However, the clichÃ?© descriptions alerted many practicing Wiccans and the growing rise of Paganism or Wicca rose over the last dozen years within the U.S. The religion remains the fastest growing in recent years. The question “do witches exist?” remains unanswered. However, the reality of the practice is that most do not worship Satan and do not wish to claim evil. However, it is up to you to decide on the motives of these pointy hat spell casters.
VAMPIRES
The persona of a modern day blood-sucking creature of the night or a vampire comes primarily from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula or the Romanian word for devil. The story describes the real life of a Transylvanian prince, Vlad Dracula, in Romania. The prince was not a vampire however; he was used to illustrate this character because of his style of dealing with those who oppose him. Vlad Dracula would terrorize his enemies and stories of these experiences circulated throughout Europe. He was assassinated in the late 1470’s.
However, the legend of the vampire creature began far before Bram Stoker’s story. Stories of vampire-like beings throughout Prussia and Hungary in the 1700s created a chain of disease and ignorance among the people. The continual use of the vampire throughout the media has continued with movies such as Blade and the popular novels of Anne Rice. The reality of the situation isn’t known. With every story, there are believers and non-believers. However, with the various stories surrounding the topic, it’s hard not to believe that at least one vampire has existed in the world.
