First – unless you live in certain parts of the UK, Ireland, or North America, I’m not entirely sure why you’d even be celebrating Halloween. Gotta love capitalism!
Here’s my two kopecks re Halloween – sorry if it comes across as rather blunt, but…..
It’s difficult to ignore the onslaught, predominantly from various religious sites (YouTube in particular), that starts about this time every year. The internet begins to be flooded with articles and videos concerning the supposed origin of many of the present-day traditions associated with Halloween. Some are subtle in their message, whilst others loudly tout it as being nothing short of the “birthday of Satan himself.”
In attempting to comment on the complete misunderstandings (due to either lack of research, or being taught incorrectly), and utter absurdities circulating about the supposed origins of both Halloween and its (imagined supposed) predecessor Samhain, as well as their associated customs, it is honestly difficult to know where to even begin; to encompass it all would quite easily make for a small book.
Many churches/pastors simply rehash this nonsense year after year until it becomes to be accepted as ‘truth’. When you’re simply repeating material that clearly has not been researched just to promote their agenda and using what amounts to ‘scare tactics’ to boot, they only succeed in making their particular religious path seem rather foolish at best, and at worse, somewhat deceitful.
Modern Halloween as we know it today is just that – a modernly invented ‘holiday’ combining elements of an earlier American (unfortunate) tradition called “Hell Night” (a carryover from UK and Ireland's "Mischief Night", but in the US it became quite bad) , along with a healthy dose of good old “Hollywood” thrown in for good measure. Virtually all American customs associated with Halloween originated right around the 1920’s - 1930’s or so. While there are some vestigial elements from pre-Christian religions in some of the customs (bobbing for apples for example), the modern costumes, the blood, the gore, the reveling in death and destruction, the candy, even ‘trick or treat’ itself, dates no earlier than 1900’s America. In short, it’s a relatively new phenomenon and represents a mix of cultures, capitalism, and accommodation.
It's simply not a holiday that has close ties to the ancient past, nor does it have some 'pagan' antecedent, nor is it a continuation of several ancient customs, as some would have one believe. Modern Halloween is no more “pagan” than Labor Day or Columbus Day.
Many people like to associate modern Halloween with three things: The old Celtic New Year’s celebration of Samhain (in asserting that most of Halloween’s customs can be traced to Samhain celebrations); Satanism; and All Saints Day (asserting that the early church established the holiday to “Christianize” Samhain). These associations, however, are more wishful thinking than actual fact.
To say that modern Halloween’s connection to Samhain is incredibly tenuous at best, would be an overstatement. Despite the horror stories one hears, the truth is that incredibly little is actually known about it. To attempt to connect Samhain to the traditions of modern Halloween is, for the most part, fanciful fallacy. The connection just isn't nearly as strong as some would apparently like it to be, but it seems that this supposed connection is also from where the bulk of the absurdities describing Halloween’s “pagan past” derive.
What's interesting is that a definite shift is noticeable in many of these videos. The shift now seems to be away from the erroneous and utterly ridiculous “Samhain as ‘Celtic Lord of the Dead’” to the equally erroneous and ridiculous “Samhain as the ‘Celtic Feast of the Dead’”. It seems one just replaced the other.
By most historical accounts, Samhain (that’s SAU-win , by the way) seems to have been a time to honor ancestors, prepare for winter, and celebrate the final harvest of the year. That sounds a lot like most European holidays from October-January. It was also a time of year when the leaders of the day held assemblies. One can only guess at topics of said assemblies, but it seems reasonable to assume the usual political topics of the day. Indeed, the word ‘Samhain’ itself in Irish Gaelic (Samhuain in Scotts Gaelic, and Sauin in Manx Gaelic) simply means “summer’s end”. In these languages, it is also the name for the entire month of November (e.g. mìos an t-Samhain in Scotts Gaelic). A more recent etymological proposal is that it derived from the Old Irish 'samana' meaning 'gathering'. This Samhain shares a date with Halloween and perhaps a “feeling”, but really nothing more.
And, yes, Halloween's association with Satanic worship and practices though real, is a very modern phenomena (1960's to present); it's not old at all and, of course, has zero connection to the pre-Christian Celtic holiday Samhain. Most people today who observe Samhain regard Satanists with just as much disgust and disdain, indeed, if not more so, than Christians do - Satanists are responsible for appropriating this day to promulgate their beliefs and completely twist the day into something it simply never was. Not to defend them in any way, but to be completely fair, it should be noted that most supposed practices of these groups are, again, based upon complete misinformation and supposition; not actual fact. Many of their assumed and supposed practices stem from the so-called “Satanic Panic”, a conspiracy theory that swept across America in the 1980’s and early 90’s. It seems however, that some Christian denominations are doing their darndest to bring it back. Interviews and ‘testimonies’ from ‘Satanic Panic’ holdovers (and some relative newcomers) such as John Ramirez are just one of many examples. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect conducted a study led by University of California psychologist Gail Goodman,, which found that among 12,000 accusations of satanic ritual abuse (SRA), there was no evidence for "a well-organized intergenerational satanic cult, who sexually molested and tortured children", although there was "convincing evidence of lone perpetrators or couples who say they are involved with Satan or used that claim to intimidate victims."
Lastly, All Saint’s Day - no matter how much some people like to promote and honestly believe that just the opposite is true, All Saint’s Day/All Souls Day, Halloween, and Samhain developed completely independent of each other. That’s just historical fact. To try and put it in a nutshell, the date of 1. November for All Saint's Day was practiced in continental Europe long before the date was formerly fixed by the RCC to November 1st, and long before said change got to what is now the UK & Ireland; which was centuries after the time of Druids and Samhain proper. In addition, most people seem not to realize that Samhain itself is a movable feast day; the exact date varies from year to year depending on when the autumnal equinox falls. This year, Samhain proper falls on 7.Nov. To assert that the establishment of All Saint’s Day (and All Souls Day on 2.NOV) was the early church’s attempt to “Christianize Samhain” borders on the ridiculous. Why would the early church change a major feast day affecting all of Western Christianity just to accommodate a small group of Christians who lived on, what would be considered at that time, some remote group of islands in the middle of nowhere far from Rome? Again, all three holidays, Halloween, All Saint’s Day, and Samhain share a common date and perhaps a “feeling”, but really nothing more.
Samhain/Halloween is to some people a very spiritual and magickal time of the year; for some it’s a time of fun and candy, perhaps a way to celebrate Fall in general. Still for others, perhaps a time to contemplate their own mortality since the modern holiday mocks death. Some perhaps are not quite sure what to make of it and prefer to steer clear of it, but however you wish to celebrate it….or not – Halloween, in and of itself, is only ‘evil’ if one chooses to make it so.
OK - off soapbox. Again, just my two cents worth; it just amazes me to see this 'misinformation' (I'll be nice) repeated year after year.
The UK also has Guy Fawkes Night (a/k/a Bonfire Night) on 4. or 5. November. Not sure how rowdy that one is.
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I have friends in the UK and Halloween is celebrated on the same day as here. To hear them tell it it isn't at all like you described. Maybe you're just sharing a personal perspective as to attitude toward the events?
