Well, it looks as though today is Halloween, All Hollow's Eve, Samhain... It seems as if the whole world has taken time off to celebrate this holiday. Well actually, they have, but it's amazing how nearly every society has taken ahold of Halloween so seemingly easily. How could people of such distance and different walks of life just decide "this is the date we celebrate the dead"? Now, I may be getting ahead of myself a little, but I think it's a good idea to take some time and actually think about this one.
In Mexico, they celebrate the annual Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), on November 2nd or All Souls' Day in Catholic tradition. But they didn't just decide to take up this new celebration when the Spanish conquered their lands. No, in fact, this festival was already widely celebrated among the Aztec tribes of Mexico at this time, and had been around for hundreds of years. Why this date though?
On November 15, China used to set flower shaped lanterns in a stream or river at sundown, giving offerings to deceased whose wandering spirits may return at night to visit. This also shows some resemblance to the Samhain tradition of putting food outside their doors, and it's interesting because the dates are only 15 days apart. It seems as though there is some form of tradition in every pocket of the world that has a "Day of the Dead" so to speak, but why is that?
This is a quote from the book The Worship of the Dead, where it points to this particular origin: "The mythologies of all the ancient nations are interwoven with the events of the Deluge (or a great flood)... The force of this argument is illustrated by the fact of the observance of a great festival of the dead in commemoration of the event, not only by nations more or less in communication with each other, but by others widely separated, both by the ocean and by centuries of time. This festival is, moreover, held by all on or about the very day on which, according to the Mosaic account, the Deluge took place, the seventeenth day of the second month - the month nearly corresponding with our November."
Now, if that doesn't give you chills about ancient history and coincidences, nothing will, until maybe my post tomorrow, but for those of you who aren't familiar with the Deluge or the Great Flood, here's a brief recap of what the Bible has to say: The people of the earth were growing increasingly wicked, and very few lived their lives according to God's laws. He became angry at them, and he told Noah (a faithful worshipper of Him) to build what was called an ark (a large ship that could hold plenty of people and provisions. Noah began to warn the people of earth that God would cause a great flood to wipe out man, and start anew afterwards. God had him gather many animals from around the world and take them into his ark in pairs of 2s and others in 7s. The humans chose to disobey God's warning he sent through Noah, so only he and his family survived the Great Flood that came on the "seventeenth day of the second month." It is believed by many that all life today originated from those 8 humans.
All other humans died that day according to Mosaic account, but it's interesting to think about how all these celebrations of the dead from all corners of the earth revolve around or are on that date in time in which all those people died during the great flood. Commemorating, and worshipping, those for whom the Mosaic account says that God condemned. Food for thought.
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Now, the past 6 days I chose to post only about Halloweens direct relations to the past taking a step by step approach toward the celebration we have today. But today, on the other hand, I chose to look into it's supposed past rather than on facts alone. This quote from the book the Worship of the Dead, is just a quote, and cannot necessarily be proven true, BUT, it does bring out rather incredible connections between today and thousands of years ago, based on the mythologies of many societies. If the celebrations do indeed date all the way back to Noah and a great flood, that would be unbelievable, making Halloween the longest living (and thriving) celebration in human history. But first, it must be proven if the events of the deluge ever actually took place. ;)
Showing posts with label Day of the Dead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Day of the Dead. Show all posts
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Origin of Halloween (Part 4)
So, this is my fourth addition to a seven part origin series on Halloween. We've gone over Halloween's most ancient direct ancestor (Samhein), how it became popular in Roman culture, how it affected Christianity, and how it blended with the festivals of Lemuria and Pomona to create 'All Saint's Day'. Well... let's continue!
In the 10th Century C.E, the Catholic Church went even further into allowing pagan traditions to permeate through the seams of Christianity, and created 'All Souls' Day' on November 2. The idea behind it was that All Souls' Day would be a day to remember everyone who had died within the past year, good OR bad, Saint or not. If you remember from Part I, this is a direct appropriation of Samhain tradition. The Celtics were also venerating the dead who had died within the past year.
Overall, the Church was very accepting of most of these pagan traditions by the 10th century. This is, except for one aspect of the Halloween tradition. Witches (from the Old English word 'WICCA' meaning "wise one" and were usually women). Witches and their practices during or around the Halloween time scared the Catholic church the most. They were a symbol of the very worst type of pagan worship (especially during Samhain): direct devil worship. Witches were seen as unruly women who threatened the male/female hierarchy, often known for tapping into the darkest aspects of Halloween.
By the 15th century C.E., Church zealots hunted down many witches and punishments were cruel. But it wasn't until the year 1486 that they were officially outlawed. The Pope at the time, Innocent VIII published a book that produced evidence of the direct link between witchcraft and the devil. He also outlawed all forms of Celtic worship and other Pagans altogether, because of their links to Witchcraft. Witches became hunted all over Europe and if they were found guilty they were hanged or burned at the stake. In fact in 1431, even Joan of Ark was burned at stake.
Witches were portrayed as violent old hags, bent on evil thoughts. Witches were such a symbol of an embodiment of evil, that even some animals became associated with demonic reputations. The black cat, for example, which is highly decorated during Halloween time, came from the belief that the cat was actually the witch's spirit in animal form. If you remember, as was tradition during Samhain, they created bonfires and those bonfires drew mosquitoes. Well, mosquitoes draw bats, and bats draw owls. Thus the bats and owls also became associated with witchcraft and Halloween.
Every culture that celebrates Halloween ends up stamping it's own culture on top of it. A great example of this is is Mexico's Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Unlike the European churches, Mexico's churches encourage the celebration of the dead. Popular customs during the Day of the Dead are the dressing of skeleton dolls and telling ghost stories and picnicking at grave sights. The reason this tradition took off so well was because of pre-existing native-American traditions or ancestor veneration (surprisingly) around the same date as Samhain.
Back to Europe, as the "Holy" Revolution to conquer paganism reached it's peek, the Catholic church would be soon torn from within. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther posted his famous thesis attacking church doctrines, which launched the Protestant Reformation. This changed the face of Christianity and Halloween forever, rejecting all those symbols that were "against worship of God" including Popes, priests and Saints. Suddenly Halloween, All Hallow's Eve and All Souls' Day became increasingly unpopular.
In November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes (I LOVE THAT NAME) who was a Catholic militant was arrested for attempting to blow up a Protestant dominated House of Lords in the famous Gunpowder Plot. This day, November 5th, is now called Guy Fawkes day and is popularly celebrated as an English holiday. Since it is so close to Halloween, many today celebrate the two together. Some popular traditions during this festival are to burn his effigy (a sculpture or model of the person), and shoot up fireworks.
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Next stop, America.
In the 10th Century C.E, the Catholic Church went even further into allowing pagan traditions to permeate through the seams of Christianity, and created 'All Souls' Day' on November 2. The idea behind it was that All Souls' Day would be a day to remember everyone who had died within the past year, good OR bad, Saint or not. If you remember from Part I, this is a direct appropriation of Samhain tradition. The Celtics were also venerating the dead who had died within the past year.
Overall, the Church was very accepting of most of these pagan traditions by the 10th century. This is, except for one aspect of the Halloween tradition. Witches (from the Old English word 'WICCA' meaning "wise one" and were usually women). Witches and their practices during or around the Halloween time scared the Catholic church the most. They were a symbol of the very worst type of pagan worship (especially during Samhain): direct devil worship. Witches were seen as unruly women who threatened the male/female hierarchy, often known for tapping into the darkest aspects of Halloween.
By the 15th century C.E., Church zealots hunted down many witches and punishments were cruel. But it wasn't until the year 1486 that they were officially outlawed. The Pope at the time, Innocent VIII published a book that produced evidence of the direct link between witchcraft and the devil. He also outlawed all forms of Celtic worship and other Pagans altogether, because of their links to Witchcraft. Witches became hunted all over Europe and if they were found guilty they were hanged or burned at the stake. In fact in 1431, even Joan of Ark was burned at stake.
Witches were portrayed as violent old hags, bent on evil thoughts. Witches were such a symbol of an embodiment of evil, that even some animals became associated with demonic reputations. The black cat, for example, which is highly decorated during Halloween time, came from the belief that the cat was actually the witch's spirit in animal form. If you remember, as was tradition during Samhain, they created bonfires and those bonfires drew mosquitoes. Well, mosquitoes draw bats, and bats draw owls. Thus the bats and owls also became associated with witchcraft and Halloween.
Every culture that celebrates Halloween ends up stamping it's own culture on top of it. A great example of this is is Mexico's Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Unlike the European churches, Mexico's churches encourage the celebration of the dead. Popular customs during the Day of the Dead are the dressing of skeleton dolls and telling ghost stories and picnicking at grave sights. The reason this tradition took off so well was because of pre-existing native-American traditions or ancestor veneration (surprisingly) around the same date as Samhain.
Back to Europe, as the "Holy" Revolution to conquer paganism reached it's peek, the Catholic church would be soon torn from within. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther posted his famous thesis attacking church doctrines, which launched the Protestant Reformation. This changed the face of Christianity and Halloween forever, rejecting all those symbols that were "against worship of God" including Popes, priests and Saints. Suddenly Halloween, All Hallow's Eve and All Souls' Day became increasingly unpopular.
In November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes (I LOVE THAT NAME) who was a Catholic militant was arrested for attempting to blow up a Protestant dominated House of Lords in the famous Gunpowder Plot. This day, November 5th, is now called Guy Fawkes day and is popularly celebrated as an English holiday. Since it is so close to Halloween, many today celebrate the two together. Some popular traditions during this festival are to burn his effigy (a sculpture or model of the person), and shoot up fireworks.
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Next stop, America.
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