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Thursday
March 18, 2010 Since 1922 |
A Halloween history
By Jane Howard Lee
Contributor Published October 22, 2009 In just over a week the little ones in our neighborhoods will begin their treks, wandering our yards in costumes, begging for sweet treats.
It is almost Halloween and no doubt parents are helping their kids put together costumes. Some get out the needles and thread, glue guns and scissors. Others will come up with something made of of old clothes. Many will just buy something for their kids to wear.
Adults are coming up with their own costumes as well. I got a haircut last week and the hair stylist was worrying about what he would wear to a big Halloween party in New Orleans. The theme, he said, was Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Unfortunately, he had never read it and so he didn’t have a clue what to wear. I told him to do a computer search, suggesting he check out the character of Puck.
He would make a great Puck, I think. Mickey Rooney played Puck in a televised version that I saw as a child. It must have been good because I still remember it.
Halloween’s origins date some 2,000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain.
The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1, the day that marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the cold, dark winter.
Celts believed that on Samhain, the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. They built big sacred bonfires, wore costumes and got a bit crazy. Their priests, the Druids, made predictions about the future and then everybody went home and relit their hearth fires with flames from those sacred bonfires to help protect them during the coming winter.
When Romans conquered the majority of Celtic territory in Ireland, England and France, they combined a couple of their own annual festivals with the Celtic Samhain.
The first of those Roman festivals was Feralia, a day when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. Those festivals probably led to our current traditions of carving pumpkins and bobbing for apples, as well as decorating and dressing up in ghostly themes.
By the year 800 A.D., when the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, the Catholic church tried to replace the ancient practices with one of its own. The celebration on Nov. 1 was called All-Hallows and the night before was called, of course, All-Hallows Eve.
The Catholic version was celebrated much the same as Samhain, with bonfires, parades and costumes.
The tradition of wandering door to door looking for treats handed out has a couple of possible origins that probably blended together over the years.
Believing that souls of the dead wandered on All Hallows Eve, people tried to appease the wandering spirits by leaving plates of fruit and nuts on their doorsteps to appease them. If not appeased, it was believed the spirits would cause damage to animals and other property.
People who had to go out on that night believed they should attempt to blend in with the spirits and thus go unnoticed among the possibly evil horde. So they dressed as devils, imps and ogres.
A European custom called “souling” was meant to help souls get to Heaven.
Beggers went from door to door begging for soul cakes. In exchange for the cakes, they would promise to say prayers on behalf of people’s dead relatives, thus easing the deceased’s passage to Heaven.
All Hallow’s Eve came to be known as Mischief Night in parts of Britain and Ireland. On that night, people were free to go around their villages playing pranks without fear of being punished.
Traditional Halloween symbols such as witches, black cats, pumpkins, candles, masks, parties and pranks appeared in this country in the late 1800s as part of activities on Oct. 31.
There are those who think the entire thing is evil.
Some urge celebrating Harvest Festivals instead of anything to do with spirits and mischief.
I enjoy Halloween. In my younger days I went to many a costume party. Nowadays I just look forward each year to putting together my own costume in which to greet the Trick-or-Treaters. Our incredibly patient old English Mastiff usually gets dressed up as well, greeting the children in a tu-tu and tiara or funny hat. The kids love that.
Jane Howard Lee is a reporter for The Baytown Sun.
Contributor Published October 22, 2009 In just over a week the little ones in our neighborhoods will begin their treks, wandering our yards in costumes, begging for sweet treats.
It is almost Halloween and no doubt parents are helping their kids put together costumes. Some get out the needles and thread, glue guns and scissors. Others will come up with something made of of old clothes. Many will just buy something for their kids to wear.
Adults are coming up with their own costumes as well. I got a haircut last week and the hair stylist was worrying about what he would wear to a big Halloween party in New Orleans. The theme, he said, was Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Unfortunately, he had never read it and so he didn’t have a clue what to wear. I told him to do a computer search, suggesting he check out the character of Puck.
He would make a great Puck, I think. Mickey Rooney played Puck in a televised version that I saw as a child. It must have been good because I still remember it.
Halloween’s origins date some 2,000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain.
The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1, the day that marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the cold, dark winter.
Celts believed that on Samhain, the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. They built big sacred bonfires, wore costumes and got a bit crazy. Their priests, the Druids, made predictions about the future and then everybody went home and relit their hearth fires with flames from those sacred bonfires to help protect them during the coming winter.
When Romans conquered the majority of Celtic territory in Ireland, England and France, they combined a couple of their own annual festivals with the Celtic Samhain.
The first of those Roman festivals was Feralia, a day when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. Those festivals probably led to our current traditions of carving pumpkins and bobbing for apples, as well as decorating and dressing up in ghostly themes.
By the year 800 A.D., when the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, the Catholic church tried to replace the ancient practices with one of its own. The celebration on Nov. 1 was called All-Hallows and the night before was called, of course, All-Hallows Eve.
The Catholic version was celebrated much the same as Samhain, with bonfires, parades and costumes.
The tradition of wandering door to door looking for treats handed out has a couple of possible origins that probably blended together over the years.
Believing that souls of the dead wandered on All Hallows Eve, people tried to appease the wandering spirits by leaving plates of fruit and nuts on their doorsteps to appease them. If not appeased, it was believed the spirits would cause damage to animals and other property.
People who had to go out on that night believed they should attempt to blend in with the spirits and thus go unnoticed among the possibly evil horde. So they dressed as devils, imps and ogres.
A European custom called “souling” was meant to help souls get to Heaven.
Beggers went from door to door begging for soul cakes. In exchange for the cakes, they would promise to say prayers on behalf of people’s dead relatives, thus easing the deceased’s passage to Heaven.
All Hallow’s Eve came to be known as Mischief Night in parts of Britain and Ireland. On that night, people were free to go around their villages playing pranks without fear of being punished.
Traditional Halloween symbols such as witches, black cats, pumpkins, candles, masks, parties and pranks appeared in this country in the late 1800s as part of activities on Oct. 31.
There are those who think the entire thing is evil.
Some urge celebrating Harvest Festivals instead of anything to do with spirits and mischief.
I enjoy Halloween. In my younger days I went to many a costume party. Nowadays I just look forward each year to putting together my own costume in which to greet the Trick-or-Treaters. Our incredibly patient old English Mastiff usually gets dressed up as well, greeting the children in a tu-tu and tiara or funny hat. The kids love that.
Jane Howard Lee is a reporter for The Baytown Sun.