What is the purpose of Halloween?
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M$12 Answers
"Is thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings are abroad on their baneful midnight errands; particularly those aerial people, the fairies, are said on that night to hold a grand anniversary."
In ancient times this was the Celtic New Year, Samhain, and a time for numerous new year customs saying goodbye to the old year and preparing for the new, especially as the year began with Winter. Over the centuries the holiday became influenced by others; in particular the Christian Churches attempted to suppress the holiday by placing one of their own on top of it. Yet it survived, especially in Ireland and Scotland.
Halloween developed anew when large numbers of Irish migrated to America in the mid-19th century. It was here that it became associated with the pumpkin, a North American squash. Masking has always been a central feature of Halloween and even today the witches, devils, and fairies mentioned by Scott are among the most popular costumes.
In America, Halloween has become the second largest holiday in terms of economic impact. It is a particular boon to pumpkin farmers, candy makers, movie makers, and costume designers.
In Japan, Halloween has recently become wildly popular. It fits well with the Japanese penchant for costume play. Also, it does not have the Christian overtones of other holidays for the Japanese.
Halloween has always been a time for merrymaking and special treat foods. Scott mentions "Sowens, with butter instead of milk to them, is always the Halloween Supper." which is a traditional oat pudding.
A part of Halloween not stressed in recent years was that it was a night for love charms and generally for young people to try to predict the future of their matrimonial prospects. Yet the sexier costumes and partying of the current celebrations are in keeping with that tradition.
Recently brewers in America have begun brewing specialty Ales and beers with pumpkin and spices for the season.
as his poem ends:
"Wi’ merry sangs, an’ friendly cracks,
I wat they did na weary;
And unco tales, an’ funnie jokes—
Their sports were cheap an’ cheery:
Till butter’d sowens, wi’ fragrant lunt,
Set a’ their gabs a-steerin;
Syne, wi’ a social glass o’ strunt,
They parted aff careerin
Fu’ blythe that night."
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M$
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M$Here's a website with some more in depth info...hope it answers your question.
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:) The Celts were the first to celebrate Halloween actually, and they were in more than just Ireland.
Just goin ' byt he site I did my 'research one" I saw that it says a Celtic festival...which would mean Celts started it, yes....I wonder if it was in Ireland where it was first.."documented" as a holiday you could say
Very interesting. Thanks.
Ireland is where modern Halloween developed. The ancient Celts had their holidays but they were suppressed almost everywhere. The more modern Halloween was kept up in Ireland, which remained predominately Celtic and spread to America with the Irish immigrants. It was further developed in America and now has spread worldwide.
Halloween was originally a pagan holiday celebrated by Celtic people and born from the pagan holiday Samhain.
Samhain is a holiday that celebrates the dark season of the Celtic year. Gallic people also celebrated this holiday; which was called "Samonios". Samonios has been replaced in Gallic countries by Christian celebrations.
Samhain was celebrated three days before November 1st and three days after and the origin of there was no carved pumpkin nor trick or treating. People had a lantern made out of a turnip. The celebration was strictly observed by the whole society and gave the opportunity to every barbarian to eat, drink and have fun.
Over the centuries, continental Europe converted to Christianity and abandoned Samonios in favour of All Saints Day and Samhain became All Hallow's Eve.
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Just a note that your last paragraph is just a little off:
1.) "All Saints Day" WAS an attempt at replacing Samhain celebrations. Pope Gregory IV moved from a May spot in the calendar to November 1 as a means of distracting Christians who were still celebrating Samhain (bad heathens!). The problem was...it didn't work. People kept celebrating All Hallows Eve instead of All Hallows Day, and All Hallows Day (or All Saints Day) virtually fell off the calendar.
2.) Not everyone abandoned Samhain! :) There are many places in Europe, America, and other regions of the world where Samhain feasts are still conducted to honor the dead. Samhain is still alive and well. (Pun intended)
SOURCE: Personal knowledge, a craving for a delicious Samhain feast, and: http://www.halloween-history.org/
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M$You can read a full history in source. I did write it as well.
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M$
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If we go a little back in history halloween is said to be the festival of the dead. it is said that the border of the underworld becomes thin allowing spirits to pass through.
If you would like more info please let me know.
Mike !
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M$
me
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@watadoo, it's an easy mistake to make. You're thinking of the holiday of Mabon, which falls on the fall equinox. It's a celebration of harvests and wine, and is a much lighter and more jolly holiday than Samhain.
The fall equinox is Sept 22nd. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/equinox1.html
Samhain is the old Celtic New Year approximately November 1.
Because so many people go to mass on All Saints Day, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the cathedral door on Halloween so that people would see it the next day.
As for celebration today, I love the community spirit of the one night a year that neighbors are nice to each other, meet their neighbors' children, and give them candy.
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M$Since there are numerous days honoring the dead in various cultures around the world at this time of year it is speculated that the customs and holidays have a common root ancestor custom designed to honor the dead who died during the Biblical flood. Which happened around this time of year according to the Jewish calendar references made my Noah's log which was recorded by Moses in the Bible Book of Genesis.
Ge 7:11 "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month"
Footnote on Second Month "Second month.” Following the Exodus from Egypt, when Jehovah gave the Israelites the sacred calendar, this became the eighth month, known as Bul, corresponding to the latter half of October and first half of November"
Maybe I'll have a chance to post more later I'm in a bit of a rush.
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Agreed with @albanian. This is not accurate and not well-researched.
Even if you really did believe this was the real history of Halloween (which again, this isn't) then it would be helpful to provide *unbiased* sources that back your claim.
albanian... Maybe you should read the footnote on the second month.
Cultures the world over have festivals for the dead, “held by all on or about the very day on which, according to the Mosaic account, the Deluge took place, viz., the seventeenth day of the second month—the month nearly corresponding with our November.”—The Worship of the Dead, by J. Garnier.
gno... If you look at the encyclopedia reference it says the same thing everybody else has been mentioning. The extra info I mention was just a hypothesis proposed. Its pretty simple.. Where did the Druid's get the idea? Who did they get the idea from? Where did the other cultures get the idea that never even had any reasonable contact with the other cultures? Often such ideas same as dark wardrobes for priests, Crosses, and Christmas trees, etc... have there roots back much further than their contemporary connections.
Reference:
The book The Worship of the Dead points to this origin: “The mythologies of all the ancient nations are interwoven with the events of the Deluge . . . The force of this argument is illustrated by the fact of the observance of a great festival of the dead in commemoration of the event, not only by nations more or less in communication with each other, but by others widely separated, both by the ocean and by centuries of time. This festival is, moreover, held by all on or about the very day on which, according to the Mosaic account, the Deluge took place, viz., the seventeenth day of the second month—the month nearly corresponding with our November.” (London, 1904, Colonel J. Garnier, p. 4)
Halloween is based on the Ancient Celtic calendar not the Jewish calendar.
http://www.friesian.com/grndhog.htm
Other celebrations regarding the dead took place at many times of year in many cultures. The Aztecs celebrated their days of the dead in August; but, now Mexico has moved that celebration to near All Saints' Day and Halloween.
@albanian That was a really neat link through archive dot org I guess they archived some of google's OCR books before they went offline? That's pretty interesting. Not sure what particular work it was referencing something he wrote or something about what he wrote. The OCR garbled the page pretty bad. But interesting none the less. Just bear in mind I just offering some additional info by a published author. Did see anything to suggest he's an eccentric but not sure that proves anything either. Most authors have opinions or at least thoughts that some love and some hate. Bear in mind a writing style then was much more different as well.
The book from 1904 by an eccentric retired Army engineer who took up writing theological treatises is not a source worth citing. A more modern review of history and culture, or even one by an actual scholar, would not reach any of the wild notions of Colonel Garnier's books.
http://www.archive.org/stream/chroniclesgarni00unkngoog/chroniclesgarni00unkngoog_djvu.txt
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Agreed, I believe @mraussie was looking for a real and informative answer here.
Since you're new around here, this link might help you out a bit in getting the feel for the community: How to Get a Best Answer on Mahalo
Neither informative nor sourced. There is plenty of history behind Halloween to look up before volunteering an answer.
This is an excellent answer. Well-researched, accurate, and poetic!
@albanian, if I could nominate you for an Answer of the Day award, I would!
Thanks @gno. I like Halloween and didn't think it was getting a fair description. But I overlooked the asker's name - @mraussie ! So I should have looked up Halloween in Australia too. It seems to not be a big holiday there but it has been growing in recent years. A bit strangely, it is being almost merged with Guy Fawkes day (Nov 5). A big problem for the Aussies, of course, is that they're upside down. I suppose the same goes for any Northern Hemisphere holiday. Here we are preparing for winter and they are enjoying early spring. I'm not sure what I would do if I moved to Australia. Celebrate it on the right calendar date, or switch it to be at the right season? In these days of the world wide web and everyone being in touch, it would be strange to be dancing around a Maypole in October, or celebrating Halloween in May while most people do the reverse.
http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2006/11/why-halloween-doesnt-work-in-australia.html
Thanks, albanian. As gno said, this is a good answer. It's funny reading all the replies going to and fro about what's right and what's not. Down here in Oz we don't really celebrate Halloween much, hence my curiosity for the truth. We basically feel that it's an "American thing". Same with Guy Fawkes day. I find it funny that there is actually a blog dedicated to why Halloween doesn't work in Australia. That's a crack up!