Happy Halloween
In this month's blog, we explore the origins of the yearly festival, known and loved by many as Halloween. So, grab a beverage of your choice, sit back, and we shall begin.
Samhain (pronounced SAH-win or SOW-in) is an old Irish word, noted in literature as early as the 9th century, and marks the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. It was a time when folk would join together to enjoy feasting and games. When the Celtic root meaning (assembly) is considered, we start to see similarities between the present and the past, I mean, who doesn’t like a good party?
One story in particular, ‘The Sickbed of Cú Chulainn’, tells of celebrations lasting for an entire week, which added up to three consecutive days on either side of the big day itself.
But our whistle-stop tour through history doesn’t end there…In the 2nd century CE, a bronze plaque, complete with an inscribed calendar, records a festival, or month, existing at that time, which incidentally coincides with Samhain, as being a celebration. Written in the Gaulish language with the incorporation of the Latin alphabet, the Coligny calendar sets out a 5-year lunisolar calendar, which basically relates to the combining of lunar cycles and the solar year. Shared equally between both Summer and Winter, the calendar now represented two seasons, each lasting for a period of six months and marked by a festival at their closing. Now, with this in mind, Samona is the month or festival that we are most interested in, which clearly shows that the name existed much further afield, with celebrations possibly being enjoyed across the continent in that period of history.
Fascinating stuff…but hardly explains as to why we don ourselves in fancy dress and attempt to scare the living daylights out of our friends on a yearly basis.
During the 1970’s, I, like all the other children on the estate where I grew up, would eagerly await the drawing in of nights, accompanied by the changing of clocks. Parents everywhere would take to the kitchen, to don aprons before the trickiest of procedures would begin…the carving out of a turnip! Perhaps in retrospect, this is where the blood comes in? Now, dressed in a bin liner and sporting a plastic mask that was assured to leave a nasty ring around your face, we as children would join together to prowl the neighbourhood in search of sweets, but why?
Well, to answer that question, we once more must delve beneath the swirling sands of time.
You see, most of what we understand about Samhain dates back to around the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries, by which point the festival was usually regarded in English as Halloween, although many of the traditions still belonged to those which originated in Irish folklore.
Take the nerve-racking and potentially finger-slicing carving of a turnip, which I brushed upon, for instance. Way before pumpkins became commonplace in every supermarket foyer, usually from about mid-September. The people of Ireland were hollowing out not just turnips, but a whole greengrocer's worth of root vegetables, each finished by the carving of a face, which was then illuminated by inserting a candle. This practice is best retold in the tale of a blacksmith named ‘Stingy Jack’, who supposedly managed to trick the devil. Banished from both Heaven and Hell, he was condemned to wander the land forever, with nothing more than a glowing ember placed inside a turnip to light the way.
So, what about the necessity to dress up?
Well, the origins of that particular question will send us back some 2000 years, when the Celts donned animal skins and heads to confuse any wandering spirits that might just happen to cross their paths. This tradition continued to grow in use and popularity, and by the late 1920’s, mass-produced costumes had appeared. Usually, these spooky outfits were made from crepe paper and resembled witches' hats and black cats, not to mention skeletons, etc. Pricey, I would imagine, which would explain the DIY version we all loved as children.
Finally, no blog regarding the subject of Halloween/ Samhain would be complete without mentioning the thinning of the veil. The moment when the spirits of our ancestors gain the ability to return once more to walk upon the earth. The material on this subject, as I'm sure you can well imagine, is massive, and so I will draw your attention to one last tradition.
Again, I have chosen to go back to nineteenth-century Ireland, where households across the land are preparing for the night of Samhain. Freshly swept, the hearth was now alight with a roaring, welcoming fire to warm the home and spirited guests. In the centre of the room, a feast lies waiting to honour and feed their ancestors, while the latch is left loose upon the door. This tradition, for me, oozes with the necessity to respect who we are, and more importantly, how we came to be here. I love the way in which it evokes feelings that death does not mean being forgotten.
Well, that’s it for this month.
Have a great festival, however you choose to celebrate it!
Darron x
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