Halloween: from harvest to fellowship

About this time of year, when the trees begin losing their leaves and there’s a slightly cooler crispness to the air, we are gearing up to the holiday season; starting with Halloween. But does anyone really know how Halloween began? Halloween, which is also known as All Hallow’s Eve, can be traced as far back as 2,000 years ago, to a pre-Christian Celtic festival held around Nov.1 called Samhain ( pronounced “sah-win), which loosely translates to “summer’s end” in Gaelic.

The Roman’s had conquered most of the Celtic regions, and for over 400 years they also ruled. In the month of October, there were two Roman festivals and a Celtic one as well.

Samhain, as it was known to the Celtic regions of the world began on sunset on Oct. 31 and continued to Nov. 1 at sunset. Samhain is not fully understood in modern day society but it was often believed that this was the day that the spirits of the dead would return to earth.

As with many beliefs and customs of different ethnic groups, such as the Native Americans coming together in what we have in American Halloween. The first celebrations in America included public parties held to celebrate the harvest season. Folks would gather to listen to stories about the dead along with telling fortunes, singing, and dancing. The Colonial celebrations featured ghost stories and mischief. Around the mid-nineteenth century, festivals in the fall became regular fare, but Halloween was not celebrated everywhere yet. This idea eventually became “Trick or Treat.” In the second half of the nineteenth century,America was being flooded with immigrants, with a tremendous amount from Ireland. The Irish flooded here due to the potato famine and religious persecution. The Americans began using some of the Irish traditions, by dressing up in costumes and going from house to house asking for money and food.

By the middle of the twentieth century Halloween had become a largely a children’s holiday.

Since then, the popularity of Halloween has increased dramatically among adults and institutions like schools and has given way to commercial haunted houses, mass-produced costuming and community involvement. Halloween is no longer a harvest festival, but more a fellowship among people to see which child brings home the most candy. It has turned from mischievous kid-like pranks to wholly scary and terrifying.

So while you are out about town, trick or treating this year, just think about it. This all started with a harvest apple.