Tonight there will be children
knocking on doors for Trick or Treat and the shops are full of witches hats,
pumpkins and masks making commercial capital out of Halloween. Long ago when I was a
sixth former at school, I organised a Halloween party for a group of children
from a local childrens home. It was a great success and long before I had any
knowledge of the origins of Halloween.
Halloween has its roots in the Celtic Feast of the dying sun
and was the last day of the Celtic year. The festival incorporated both harvest
festival and a festival of the dead. It was a time when the Lord of death
summoned the spirits of the dead. As
leaves fell, and growth decayed, the suns strength waned and nights drew in,
the Celts prepared for winter. Bonfires were lit to ward off evil because there
was particularly a fear of spirits. People going out blackened their faces to
hide themselves from being recognised by the marauding spirits. straw dresses
and caps were worn. The festival was marked with games like Apple ducking and
snap apple. Children dressed in masks and had pumpkin lanterns and went asking for apples, nuts or money, trick
or treat. Some wore horses heads and sheets and blew cow horns. Animals that
could not be kept through the winter were slaughtered and salted. It was a time
of fortune telling of weather, family, crops and animals. Bonfires stopped
others stealing their luck and combated the forces of darkness. Smoke and ashes
were seen as purifying. Fields were burnt and
torches carried. There were rituals of protection performed in ash
circles. People put a stone or themselves in the circle as a symbol of
protection on their families and their animals and crops.. Children jumped through the flames of the bonfires..
Attempts at Christianising this pagan festival and its
rituals have been attempted at least since the 10th century by
creating All Hallows Day (All Saints Day, All Souls Eve). Holy water was
sprinkled on crops, animals and people. Crosses were made of wood or straw,
some called called parshells and put up to protect families from spirits.
In general special foods were eaten like apple cake and
dumpling, soda bread, oatmeals, and colcannon with tokens inside. Bannocks were
baked and ginger biscuits eaten. In some areas white cheese, oatmeal bread and
ale were left on neighbours windows and the poor fed from slaughtered animals.
Flowers were put on graves.
Today many of these practises survive and some are being
revived. As Christians we tend to divide into two camps, those who recognise
evil in a spiritual form (the devil, demons, spirits etc) and those who see
evil as the result of choices that bring about negative consequences for
others.
Halloween as a pagan festival is supremely a time of
mischief and mischief can be childish or have more serious consequences. For
old people the threat of trick or treat
could cause unnecessary stress to a weak heart. And yet the practise is
centuries old and the churches have failed to stamp it out. And should they?
Some of the festival results from the change of seasons. A time of closing down
the shutters. In past times it was also the time when many labourers and
craftspeople were laid off for the winter so they rejoiced with their pay offs
before bedding in for the winter. Feasting and sharing are also Christian
rituals along with recognising our place in the seasons, the creation, without
superstition and fatalism.
So we are remembering this month those who have died All Hallows Eve, a man
who tried to blow up parliament because of the persecution of Catholics at the
time and those we have lost in two wars that devastated
this country and much of the world.
