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Halloween: Spirits, Costumes, Bonfires, Apples and Jack o’ Lanterns

On October 31, Americans celebrate Halloween, which has become an extremely popular holiday. In the evening, children dress in costumes and go trick or treating – walking from house to house, knocking on doors and receiving candies as rewards for their costumes. The costumes range from the stand-by ghosts and witches, to costumes resembling popular cartoon or television characters. (A common saying: “Trick or treat, trick or treat, give me something good to eat!) Older children use Halloween as an excuse to play “tricks” that are often harmless (spraying your friends with shaving cream is one example), but can sometimes get out of hand (throwing eggs at cars). And many young adults dress up and attend Halloween costume parties or dances.

In many neighborhoods, people decorate their houses with pumpkins carved into “jack o’lanterns,” with faces or decorations cut out of the pumpkins’ side, and lit with candles. They display ghouls, witches and cobwebs in their windows and front yards. Bobbing for apples is a Halloween party favorite: apples float in a large bucket of water; players need to try and pick up an apple while their hands are behind their back, using only their teeth, resulting in a lot of splashed water and wet hair.

Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic New Year celebration of Samhain (pronounced SAH-ween). For the Celts, November 1 marked the end of summer and the harvest, and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year associated with death. On the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead was blurred, and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. It was thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids (the Celtic priests) to make prophecies about the future — an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To celebrate Samhain, Druids built huge bonfires, representing the sun, and offered sacrifices, usually of crops and animals, but sometimes of humans. The goal was to placate the gods, ensure that the sun would return after the winter, and frighten away evil spirits. The word bonfire derives from “bone fire,” referring to the bones of sacrificed animals that were piled with timber and set ablaze. All fires except for the sacred Druid bonfire were extinguished on Samhain. Householders then paid a fee to relight their altar fires from the holy fire, to help protect them in the coming winter and ensure that the warm sun would return in the spring. During these celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory, which they would rule for 400 years. During this time, two festivals of Roman origin intermingled with the Celtic traditions of Samhain:

- Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead.

- A day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV relaced the pagan Celtic festival with a related, church-sanctioned holiday. He designated November 1 All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English “Alholowmesse,” meaning All Saints’ Day). The night before the day was called “All-hallows Eve,” which became “Halloween.” In A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead, which was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’, and All Souls’, were called “Hallowmas.”

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