Candy, jack-o-lanterns, and downtown Enumclaw’s trick or treating on Cole Street. Little kids dress up as goblins, witches, vampires, and ghouls with smiles on their faces and the store owners dress up to give out candy. They say the usual “Happy Halloween” and “Don’t you look scary” or sometimes “Cute!” for the little princesses. Where did this holiday originate from? Who started it?
In the Gaelic Celtic culture, there was a tradition to light bonfires after the crops perished. The first known documentation of this was drafted on a bronze native Celtic stone in Latin but used Gaulish language. It was found in France, in approximately1898 but dates back to the 1st century. It was around that time the traditional Halloween, Samhain (pronounced sow-win) was celebrated.
On Samhain day Oct. 31st, ancient Celtics believed the borderline of the departed and their world would cross and cause chaos for them. They were scared and wary of the possibility that crops could die and sickness could strike villages. The dead were dangerous to them and in Scotland people didn’t leave their house unless they absolutely had to.
What was found in France was a Coligny Calendar telling the researchers about the dates the Celtics did the rituals but one word stood out, samoni. Samoni is the root of the name Samhain. The suffix“-oni” means “end of.” There are Coligny Months which are Samon for summer and Samonios for October and November. Samonis important because the ritual happens at the “–oni” of the seasons each time. So, to understand Samhain better we need to understand their custom.
Like the first paragraph explained, the Gaelic herded cattle in and gathered crops twice a year. One occurrence was labeled Michaelmas on Sept. 29 and the alternative day was Marinmas on Nov. 11. Cattle also disappeared throughout tLammas, Aug. 1.During the 16th century, Samhain was a span of“… good and drie and cattle strong to drive,” according to pantherfile.uwm.edu. Candlemas ,on Feb. 2, was a time of severe weather and the feeble state of cattle as they traveled through night, for instance in the Border region of Scotland.
During this time, Scottish laws were divided between Samhain and the pagan’s Beltain belief of friendship. They were discouraged from hunting deer and especially pig for Samhain. It was believed the time between Martinmas and Ammas was a time for breeding the wild pig for Gaelic sacrifices to the dead to ensure a peaceful Samhain for the Celts.
More sacri icial ceremonies went on throughout time, including humans at the altar. Some sacrifices involved bleeding humans out as a gift to the bloodless dead. The giving of treats to children is thought to be a toned-down version of this. The treats symbolize sacrifices to the dead.
Since pumpkins are New World plants, they weren’t used during Celtic times but large turnips were gutted and sculpted with faces to ward off evil spirits. Hence, the origin of jack-o-lanterns. I think some people still do it to ward off spirits and others do it for fun or to make fun of what happened in history. I’ve heard it is a common belief.
I think dressing up came from the Scots. Their Samhain — even though they stayed inside, which in my opinion was smart —was abounding with mischief and confusion. The living masqueraded as the dead with dark masks and veiled faces. They dressed themselves in straw or white fabric. That was where today’s dressing up came from, is my guess.
Research for this column was done primarily at www.pantherfile.uwm.edu.
