This Friday night is the night that many children, and adults, have been looking forward to. It’s a time to get dressed up, carve a pumpkin, eat lots of candy and party it up incognito.

Halloween, as we know it, has evolved over time and like many of our current traditions, it has its roots in the distant past. There are many theories about which traditions or ancient festivals are at the heart of our modern Halloween or, All Hallow’s Eve.

Some maintain that it’s a Christian festival linked to All Saints’ Day on November first, and All Souls’ Day on November second. Historically, during these two Christian festivals, ‘soul-cakes’ would be made and handed out to the poor who would go door-to-door. This was seen as a way of praying for the souls that were then in Purgatory. Halloween is indeed a good time to pull out your copy of Dante’s Inferno.

All Souls’ Day (William Bouguereau 1859)

Another candidate thought to contribute to the origins of Halloween is the ancient Roman festival of Pomona. Unlike many Roman divinities who had their original Greek counterpart, Pomona was a uniquely Roman goddess or wood nymph who watched over and protected the fruit trees at this harvest time of year. The connection to Halloween seems a little less likely to me, but it’s still an interesting festival, and apples do figure largely in some Halloween activities. Who hasn’t bobbed for apples?

Pomona (Francesco Melzi, c. 1520)

However, when it comes to Halloween the most likely candidate for its origins still seems to be the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced ‘saw-wen’). This was a sacred time of year for the ancient Celts of Gaul, Britain, Scotland and Ireland – the time of the death of summer. In Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man it was known as Samhain, in Wales and Cornwall it was known as Calan Gaeaf and Kalan Gwav respectively.

Samhain Bonfire (photo from galleryhip.com)

This was the time of the harvest, of bounty, but also of death, which was a part of the cycle of life. It was also a time of year when the door to the Otherworld was opened, the veil at its thinnest. The souls of the dead were said to revisit their former homes where people would set places for them at table. Other beings, such as fairies, roamed the land as well, some good, some mischievous, and others harmful.

One way in which people, young and old, would avoid being noticed by spirits of the departed was by wearing a costume or ‘guising’ as it was called. If you had wronged a family member in the past, or even trampled a fairy ring, you were better off having a good costume!

The idea of trick-or-treating in 19th century Ireland was a way that folks went door-to-door gathering food as offerings for the fairies or fuel for the purifying bonfires of Samhain. Fire and its light served as protection during the thinning of the veil and the carving of pumpkins into Jack-O-lanterns served to scare spirits and fairies away.

Watch out for the Fairies!

Even if you don’t celebrate Samhain or Halloween in some way, shape or form, it is nonetheless interesting how ancient traditions survive thousands of years, from the feeding of the dead in ancient Egypt and Greece, to the Roman and Celtic festivals of the harvest. Halloween seems to be a melding of many different aspects of various cultural traditions.

So, Friday night, whether you are lighting a candle, carving a pumpkin, handing out candy or going all out with your ‘guising’, take a moment to remember that it’s not just some modern-day, consumer-driven tradition that you’re taking part in.

Remember that you’re taking part in an ancient rite at a sacred time of year for many cultures, and that maybe, just maybe, you are being watched from the other side of the veil between this world and the next…

Stay safe and Happy Halloween!

Thank you for reading.