Halloween Traditions
Halloween is a holiday that comes from several mysterious religions
that blended together. Europeans brought these traditions to America.
One Halloween tradition comes from the Druids of England, Scotland and
Ireland. The Druids were priests who taught a religion of many gods. One of their chief
gods was named Saman. The Druids said that Saman would tell the spirits of dead people to
visit the Earth on October 31st, the last day of the year according to their calendar. The
Druids said that autumn was a time of dying, and that winter was a season of death.
Therefore they believed that the earth and the spirit world were very close to each other,
especially during the night of October 31st – their New Year’s Eve. On that night they
believed these dead people would visit people on Earth.
To keep the evil spirits away from people, the Druids told them to make
an animal sacrifice on Druid altars. The priests used the organs of these dead animals to
do two things. First, they foretold the future. Second, they helped make peace with angry,
evil spirits nearby. Happy spirits would leave them alone. Later the dead animals were
burned in bonfires. The priests fore told the people that fire scared away the evil
spirits that didn’t like all the light coming from the flames.
Other customs grew over the years. If the spirits caused no problems
for a family, that family celebrated later that night. Parents sent the children out to
collect food from friends and neighbours. To help them keep away from evil spirits,
parents dressed up their children as ghosts and other figures that looked like evil
spirits, trying to scare away real spirits! When children were outside, they heard what
people said the evil spirits were doing – kicking over garbage cans, taking gates off
fences, letting farm animals loose and throwing paint on houses. So they began doing these
things themselves. They would visit a house and call out: Trick or Treat! If they
did not receive what they wanted (a treat), they would cause problems for that family (the
trick). Some families cut out scary faces in large turnips and put them around the edge of
their property. They thought this would help keep evil spirits away.
Another event was “bobbing” for apples. People thought the apple
was a sign of protection. They would bring a large bucket into their home, fill it with
water, and put the apples into the water. Then one by one, each person would try to pick
up a floating apple using only their teeth. They believed that those who got an apple with
their teeth were safe from the evil spirits that night.
American Halloween customs also came from central Europe. Hundreds of
years ago many people there believed in witchcraft, a religion of evil power. This is also
called Black Magic. Witches (females) and warlocks (males) usually wore black clothing and
acted like priests for the Devil. In the Bible the Devil is God’s enemy and the centre
of all evil in the world. Black represents darkness and death to these priests. People
were very afraid of witches and warlocks because they talked with the Devil and used his
power. They believed these evil priests could change themselves into black cats, bats and
spiders. They also thought witches could fly on brooms.
Witches have several days of the year that are their special religious
days. One of them is May 1st, a day called May Day in many countries. Another special day
of the calendar year for witches is October 31st. They believe that any spell they had
made earlier in the year that had not yet occurred would occur that night. Because of
this, witches and warlocks celebrate on this day with feasts and noisy partying. Part of
the celebration is cutting out pumpkins with scary faces that look like the evil spirits
they contact.
Halloween celebrations also have a connection to the Roman Catholic
Church (RCC). It seems the Church wanted to completely change the original holiday, not
add to its tradition. One Catholic Church practice, praying to dead “saints”, seems to
be similar to Halloween’s attention to the spirits of dead people. The RCC says
“saints” are persons who were chosen by the Church to be honoured after their death
because of their good works. Many of the early saints were killed because of their faith.
The Pope chose dates that would be named for their saints. After many centuries, the
number of saints grew very large. There were saints for safe travel, financial success,
healing, children, families, etc. The calendar did not have enough days to honour all of
them. So someone suggested the idea of “All Saints Day”, a day when all saints could
be honoured.
The Church first celebrated All Saints Day in the springtime. Then in
732 AD Pope Gregory III moved the holiday to November 1st. They called it “All Hallow
mas” (all = every; hallow = saint; mas = RCC worship service,
called a “mass”). The RCC then told their members they could begin celebrating All
Saints Day the night before November 1st, the name of the service therefore was changed.
The “all” was dropped, the “mas” was changed to “een” (a shorter form of the
word “evening”). Church members attended this service and prayed to their favourite
saints to help them. This change in the Catholic holiday caused their members to think
more about dead saints on the very same night that others were celebrating evil spirits
and powers!
The real question is: Why did Pope Gregory III move Allhallowmas to
November 1st, and then changed it to October 31st? He probably did it to stop people
from celebrating evil and death, and to stop honouring saints in a special church service.
Many people think this change did not help. People became more interested in the evil
celebrations, because RCC members were going out to church services that night when evil
activities were happening.
Another important event occurred on October 31st, on that date in 1517
AD a Roman Catholic priest named Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 complaints on the door
of the Wittenberg Church in Germany. After studying the Bible for several years, he
believed that the RCC was teaching many things that were different from what he read in
the Bible. A short time later he left the church and started a movement called the
Reformation, trying to change the RC. Luther wanted to correct the Church’s teachings
and practice. This created the Protestant part of Christendom. Those who joined Luther
believed the Bible was the authority over the Church officials. Catholics believed
Protestants turned away from the true faith and Church.
Traditional Halloween activities still include haunted houses, bobbing
for apples, and children doing “trick or treating” – when they dressed up as ghosts,
monsters, animals, etc., and ask for candy from their neighbours. Traditional colours for
Halloween are orange and black. Many churches have different activities on Halloween
night. They replace witches, Black Magic and other evil themes with costume parties,
harvest festivals, or activities with Christian themes that are safer for kids. They
usually include candy, games, contests, and other fun things to do for children and
families.
By Sofya Sharifzyanova, Tatarstan
|