Alright, so here we are on day 5 of our journey to attempt and fully discern the full history of Halloween and why it's celebrated like it is today. Today we'll start in America. Puritan America, actually.
Puritans, like I mentioned yesterday, were the religious group of people that sprung up once Martin Luther went against the Catholic Church for their skewed doctrines, and tried to get away from all the pagan practices of the Church by starting a new one. Many of these Puritans found themselves forced to move because of religious persecution they faced in Europe, and relocated into America. Between 1629 and 1640, it's estimated that over 21,000 puritans moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Puritans were strongly against practicing Halloween.
So against it and other forms of paganism, that it eventually became their undoing. The most famous Witch Hunt in Salem, Massachusetts occurred 1692. Dozens were accused of being witches, and 20 ended up dying because of the extreme superstition and their blind common sense: 19 by hanging, and 1 was crushed to death by rocks.
On another Colony, Halloween continued to live on, unabated by the efforts of the Puritans. This colony, Virgina, would be the birthplace of American Halloween. It was popular to have parties on this night, where many of the guests would partake in ghost stories and bob for apples, amongst other games. Many popular games included divination. Women would look for their future husbands faces to appear in food they cooked in fire. Some girls would leave a wet towel hanging and as superstition went, the boy that the girl loved would come and make a fold in the towel overnight. Play parties, as they were called, during the time of Halloween, were very popular.
At the turn of the 19th century, the Irish began to swarm into the country and they breathed new life into many practices that had already taken hold here, such as ghost stories, which became even more popular in the late 1800s. You see, many of the Irish never truly did stop celebrating their Celtic Samhain, although the belief patterns amongst people had drastically changed since then and many by this time had no clue what Samhain was. The pumpkins which were very prevalent in America, were much easier to carve into than the turnips of Ireland, and this is a great example of how American culture turned darker traditions into light-hearted fun. By the end of the 19th century, this previously adult holiday would become celebrated by those younger and younger.
Showing posts with label Origins of Halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Origins of Halloween. Show all posts
Friday, October 29, 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.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Origin of Halloween (Part 1)
So, before it's asked of me, no I don't participate in any Halloween celebrations, but yes I've decided to start this lengthy 7 day blogging spree all about it's origins. This is meant to be an informative series of posts, that give you but a glimpse of the worldwide holiday many today now celebrate. So how am I going to break this up? I'm still asking myself the same thing. All I know is what I want to do for the seventh part.
So, I guess I'll go ahead and begin discussing the Celtic festival, Samhain (pronounced Sow-wen), which is Gaelic for "summer's end" and is a far earlier tradition than the "Christian" celebration today. In fact, the Celts were harvesters, so once Winter came around it became a tough time for their survival. Nevertheless, every year on the very night we now recognize as October 31st, the Celts had their Druidic priests pray to their gods for help, so they may be sustained throughout the Winter months. This also had to do with the Sun setting earlier at this time of the year. They thought that, since the gods controlled the Sun, they were showing their power by allowing it to set earlier. This transition was a very magical time for the pagan Celts. Weird things were said to have happened.
The Celts of Ireland believed that on the night of October 31st, the veil between the world of the living and the realm of the spirits was thinnest. They thought that the spirits of those who had died in the past year would awaken from their rest and walk the streets of Celtic villages. Not all of these "spirits" were friendly.
So as to ward off these evil spirits, they performed many rituals to both placate their dead ancestors and appease the gods. Many wore costumes and masks, impersonating the spirits. Others would carve faces into turnips to ward off the more harmful spirits, (much like how scarecrows scare crows, haha). While dressed, many Celts would parade towards the end of their villages with food, trying to coax the spirits from haunting or bringing any harm to their homes. Another custom was to leave food or sweets outside of their homes so that if their dead loved ones payed them visit, they would be at peace. If you didn't treat the spirits, they may decide to "trick" you.
Since the Celts were harvesters, they would thank the gods for their plentiful harvest they received during the Summer months, specifically their earth god Dagda. Doing so, they burnt blood offerings of cows and horses in large bonfires, as a sort of trade for the good food they had been provided. Many would walk in-between two bonfires as a manner of cleansing rituals. They then had the Druids of the villages look over the burnt entrails of the sacrificial offerings, and read the future, as some would read into tea leaves in modern times. Since the boundary of the living world and the spirit world was thinner, they believed the dead would help in the foretelling. The Druids would divine who would die within the next year. These divinations would travel throughout the villages and were told at bonfires and such. This is thought to be the ancient day origins of the now very popular ghost stories told on the very night that Samhain would take place thousands of years ago.
------
If you found this interesting, please note that this is only the first of a seven part origin series that I plan to continue until October 31st. So please stay tuned, or follow the blog... cause you might just learn a little something here or there.
So, I guess I'll go ahead and begin discussing the Celtic festival, Samhain (pronounced Sow-wen), which is Gaelic for "summer's end" and is a far earlier tradition than the "Christian" celebration today. In fact, the Celts were harvesters, so once Winter came around it became a tough time for their survival. Nevertheless, every year on the very night we now recognize as October 31st, the Celts had their Druidic priests pray to their gods for help, so they may be sustained throughout the Winter months. This also had to do with the Sun setting earlier at this time of the year. They thought that, since the gods controlled the Sun, they were showing their power by allowing it to set earlier. This transition was a very magical time for the pagan Celts. Weird things were said to have happened.
The Celts of Ireland believed that on the night of October 31st, the veil between the world of the living and the realm of the spirits was thinnest. They thought that the spirits of those who had died in the past year would awaken from their rest and walk the streets of Celtic villages. Not all of these "spirits" were friendly.
So as to ward off these evil spirits, they performed many rituals to both placate their dead ancestors and appease the gods. Many wore costumes and masks, impersonating the spirits. Others would carve faces into turnips to ward off the more harmful spirits, (much like how scarecrows scare crows, haha). While dressed, many Celts would parade towards the end of their villages with food, trying to coax the spirits from haunting or bringing any harm to their homes. Another custom was to leave food or sweets outside of their homes so that if their dead loved ones payed them visit, they would be at peace. If you didn't treat the spirits, they may decide to "trick" you.
Since the Celts were harvesters, they would thank the gods for their plentiful harvest they received during the Summer months, specifically their earth god Dagda. Doing so, they burnt blood offerings of cows and horses in large bonfires, as a sort of trade for the good food they had been provided. Many would walk in-between two bonfires as a manner of cleansing rituals. They then had the Druids of the villages look over the burnt entrails of the sacrificial offerings, and read the future, as some would read into tea leaves in modern times. Since the boundary of the living world and the spirit world was thinner, they believed the dead would help in the foretelling. The Druids would divine who would die within the next year. These divinations would travel throughout the villages and were told at bonfires and such. This is thought to be the ancient day origins of the now very popular ghost stories told on the very night that Samhain would take place thousands of years ago.
------
If you found this interesting, please note that this is only the first of a seven part origin series that I plan to continue until October 31st. So please stay tuned, or follow the blog... cause you might just learn a little something here or there.
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