Today is Halloween — a Halloween like most, or all, of us have never seen before. Obviously, Covid-19 changes things dramatically, but there is a full moon on Halloween and of course today is Saturday, so you working readers can sleep in tomorrow — and — it’s also daylight saving time so we get more Halloween — or maybe less — I forget, it’s just all so confusing.
Anyhow, even though Halloween is different this year, we only think that because it evolved to what we consider “normal” over the years. If we looked back at some of the early Halloweens, we’d think they were pretty strange, too….
The first occurrence of Halloween festivities that resemble what we consider traditional today was in ancient Ireland. It was called Samhain, and it was a pagan religious ritual practiced by the Celts. In ancient Gaelic, the term Samhain translates to “end of summer” that signifies the beginning of the darker half of the year.
According to ancient Celtic lore, the festival of Samhain was a special day that the dead could walk on Earth. This was the beginning of the “spooky” and “undead” tradition of Halloween that we think of today.
The practice of trick-or treating has its roots in the United Kingdom and Ireland — as a religious rite. Neighbors would visit each other to ask for “soul cakes.” Then they would pray together.
The Jack-o’-lantern is one of the better known symbols of Halloween across the world. It began with the Celts in Scotland and Ireland who used large root vegetables as lanterns. Jack-o’-lanterns get their name from a man (probably named Jack) who died and was sent to Purgatory. Once there, he walked among the living for eternity with only a single lantern to guide his way.
The Halloween we know today comes from the original Halloween practices brought by the Irish and Scottish immigrants that became infused with the mysticism and voodoo spiritualism brought by Haitian and African Americans.
Interestingly, in Ireland, Halloween was traditionally an evening for finding your soulmate. Bachelors and bachelorettes would gather and play matchmaking games. These games were said to be the key to finding true love. Girls in Scotland once believed that they would see their future husbands if they laid their bedsheets in front of the fire on Halloween night.
Some animal shelters refuse to allow adoption of black cats around Halloween because they fear that they will be sacrificed, abused, or forced into a ritual of some sort.
The colors black and orange are associated with Halloween because orange is the color of the autumn harvest, and black is the color of death, darkness or the afterlife — together, they symbolize Halloween.
In a normal year, seven out of every ten adult Americans hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
So how much of the trick-or-treating, attending parties, or visiting haunted houses will occur this year, no one knows. But it’s still Halloween — maybe the situation will inspire new traditions and we’ll look back on “todays Halloween” and wonder why we ever did that. Happy Halloween!
— 30 —