The Story of Halloween: Folk History

History Latinoamérica

We all love (or dread apparently, for some people,) that one time of the year where we get to dress up as anything we want to. It doesn't even matter if it's scary anymore, we just want to show up dressed as that iconic character from our favorite movie, eat candy, watch scary movies and go to parties. We don't even stop and think about why we do it, why is it that every year we spend money on costumes we will never touch again after October 31st. Some of us watch Hocus Pocus and immediately assume that Halloween has some type of association with the witches of Salem back in the colonial days. However, this is simply untrue. Of course there is a connection but it is mostly unrelated. The truth is, the history of Halloween is more complex than what pop culture offers us to believe. The american holiday's roots are hardly american but have evolved sufficiently to become tradition in the United states. There are five main components that make modern day Halloween: Samhain celebration, the catholic church, colonial american culture, irish immigration, and american pop culture.

Samhain

The Celts were an ancient civilization that occupied the north western part of Europe during the Iron Age. One of the things they were mainly known for was their artistic craftship with metals, their reputation of warriors, and their polytheistic religion (and please do not confuse celtic mythology with norse mythology). They followed a class of priests known as druids who advised the tribal leaders, promoted education and were responsible for religious ceremonies.

The Celts had a tradition called Samhain (sa-wen), which was typically celebrated from October the 31st to November the 1st commemorating the end of summer (also known as a passage between summer and autumn). Nevertheless, it was believed that it was more than a passage of season, but rather a passage of mortals into the afterlife. This meant that the night of October the 31st was the night of "all hallows eve", when there was a gap opened between the supernatural and mortals. The Celts dressed in skins and disguised themselves in different ways with the intention that the spirits that arose that night would believe that they were also supernatural rather than mortals. Nevertheless, this was not the only tradition held on this day for the celts.

Samhain was also about celebrating the end of harvest season. During this day other activities were conducted such as sports competitions, trials were run and those guilty were executed, parties with alcohol, and even gatherings of political leaders. To say that October 31st to November 1st was a time exclusively for the Celts to avoid the supernaturals is to conjecture, these dates were important for various other reasons. Albeit, it gives us good insight as to how the Celts decided to celebrate the passing of time.

Britanicca: Druids Smoky Mountain News: Samhain

The Catholic Church

Around the 7th century, Ireland and other Celtic countries were heavily influenced by Catholicism. Strong practices such as the Samhain tradition which had great cultural significance were able to remain through the church's syncretism. Pope Gregory III moved the traditional feasts for martyrs (memorial for those who died for the faith in the ancient church) to November 1st which symbolized an important part of the liturgical calendar. Then Gregory declared "All Saints Day"on November 1st. And finally 1000 years later November 2nd becomes "All Souls day" which is essentially a day to pray for the souls of the dead. These three dates formed a new holiday called "Hallowtide" which became mostly catholic and with heavy absence of celtic origins.

During Hallowtide, civilians, mainly kids, were accustomed to practicing souling. This consisted on knocking on doors in hopes of receiving food, water or even shelter. However this happened to be a common activity during holy days because they were considered to be moments in which everyone should be more generous. Souling later went through evolution until becoming into what we know as "trick or treat" and was only adapted during Halloween and the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead (Calaverita).

All Saints’ Day, Emile Friant, 1888 Musee des beaux-arts de Nancy

Colonial American Culture

The first waves of immigrants to the American colonies were not catholic, in fact there was an anit-catholic bias that was carried and brought from Europe. As they took customs and traditions from England, in most cases they stripped away the catholic elements from them. In the case of Hallowtide, they mostly excluded praying for the saints or souls in the purgatory and focused more on the Celtic branch of the holiday. As American pride grew, they also began to expel the British traditions that came along. During Hallowtide American colonies celebrated the end of Harvest season (like the Celtics) which is an antecedent for thanksgiving day in November.

An emerging identity: Ruling Colonial America

Irish Immigration

During the 1800s there was a potato famine in Europe which was devastating to Europeans since most relied on the crop as nutrition. Various immigrants from Ireland arrived to the American colonies along with their rich culture. The harvest festival in America started to be influenced by the Irish sensibility. These immigrants who were more connected to the original Celtic celebration started to pull scary "trick or treat" pranks on Americans during October the 31st. Consequently more mischievous elements were adapted to the holiday. Then the direct association of supernatural creatures to the holiday, including the witches (like the witches of Salem) began to become more frequent. This started to separate Hallowtide from Halloween.

A political cartoon depicts American relief arriving for people suffering from the Irish famine of 1879-1880, several decades after the Jamestown embarked on its humanitarian voyage. THOMAS NAST

Entertainment and Pop Culture

During the mid 19th century there was a rise of popularity in America of the Victorian gothic genre. This horror genre included books such as Frankeintsein by Mary O. Shelly and Dracula by Bram Stoker alongside multiple monsters of the age. These famous characters were featured now on screen as the age of cinema begins to grow and become more recognized. Overtime, horror movies commenced to become associated with the fall, thus including Halloween. This new concept of the holiday was not pagan or catholic but simply entertainment driven.

Boris Karol starred as the original Frank in 1931's "Frankenstein". Universal studio Home video

In the 20th century, there is an increasing number of people in the middle class, as a result of the consumerism that was built after the world wars. The middle class in America wanted to have fun, have rights of passage, and commemorate the holiday with the practice of trick or treating. Nevertheless, dressing up began truly trending in the 1950s when there was mass production of Halloween costumes. Because suburban life in the United States had become particularly attractive for people, the idea of going trick or treating knocking on door after the other in costumes to get candy seemed fun for kids. During this time Halloween became more formally recognized as a purely American holiday.

The modern day concept of Halloween is a result of cultural syncretism and recent pop culture in the United states.

Source: eBay (1950s Halloween photo)