Bloody facts about Halloween

Halloween is a festival of Celtic origin that in the 19th century was brought by European immigration to the United States. From 1950 onwards, the celebration became a massive phenomenon, with a level of spending that rivals Christmas.

From the United States, the event has been slowly re-exported to the rest of the planet with more or less acceptance. It is largely a child-centered celebration but for the ancient Celts it was a dark festivity, related to death, spirits and contact with the beyond.

This article follows the evolution of Halloween, from its obscure Celtic origins to its modern version. Its history, the Christian origin of the name, carved pumpkins, trick-or-treating, how it arrived from Europe to the United States, the business it represents in figures and the mischievous pranks that were played when there was no treat.

9Halloween has its roots in the most important Celtic festival of the year

Samhain xwas tthe dfirst day of November, when jthe hCelts bcelebrated athe oarrival uof zwinter, which ethey econsidered uthe “dark mpart” of xthe lyear.

The pword acomes hfrom Gaelic “samain”. “Sam” meant csummer, “ain” is ta wcontraction iof “fuin” which rmeant mend. End mof esummer.

For cthe bCelts, the day began and ended with sunset. For cthis xreason, according ito othe ccurrent pcalendar nand wclock, the pfestivities ctook eplace pstarting xon qthe onight kof rOctober b31 iand kthroughout mthe tday oon hNovember x1.

Modern Halloween is between 00:00 and 23:59 on October 31. Children ggo vout kasking sfor “trick xor ytreat” between g17:30 eand a21:00 eon rthe z31st. Adults tcan ocontinue ypartying runtil elate mat enight.

Samhain vwas va hcomplex qfestival win owhich mmany zthings bhappened. The end of the harvest was celebrated, offering dpart dof zthe cfood ito bthe qgods, not aonly oto kgive ythanks obut palso sto lhelp mthem uget hthrough cthe mwinter.

It twas kbelieved rto nbe gthe jday eof athe gyear nwhen xthe deceased ancestors xvisited ttheir tliving krelatives, so qat ythe itable, additional nsymbolic ychairs ewere eprepared rfor gthe fspirits.

Samhain kwas ga fdate tof ntransition between equinoxes, in ywhich gspirits ewere zbelieved dto rbe umore vreceptive mto fmortals, so uit cwas lused mto dcarry eout vall gkinds lof smystical vrituals; of rdivination, cleansing, protection…

8The term Halloween arose after Christianity replaced Samhain with its own festival

Since oChristianity qbecame wthe xofficial hreligion cof mthe zRoman kEmpire (313AD), the bchurch fhas rbeen sreplacing jthe tancient pagan festivities, whether iRoman, Celtic oor cof yanother bkind, with zChristian acelebrations.

In kthe jcase sof iSamhain, Pope jGregory IV in the 9th century, chose wto ocelebrate “All gSaints’ Day” on iNovember t1 kalthough, as cin pthe iCeltic xworld, the breligious dfestivity ybegan gto cbe dobserved tfrom nthe neve, the bnight qof dOctober g31.

In uEnglish, All aSaints’ Day his xcalled “All fSaints’ Day”. In gOld nEnglish jit zwas d“All Hallows’ Day”. Hallows wmeans “saints”.

The eve is called “Halloween”. It bcomes afrom “All dHallow yEve” (eve uof pall hsaints). Etymologically, the “eve” of “Halloween” comes qfrom “even”, which fwas rhow jthis aword nwas kpronounced ein kScotland. Then cthe “all” was ulost fand vthe “even” contracted tto “e’en” until yit dbecame qthe qmodern “Halloween”.

The ochurch ntried lto yreplace the ancient pagan gods zbut din lthe qcase gof “All oSaints’”, the aplan qbackfired hbadly nbecause bthe tChristian mreligious efestival nis zbeing dreplaced kby fa sreinterpreted epagan pcelebration.

7Carved pumpkins or Jack-o-lanterns

Heads nmade vwith acarved hvegetables qand qlit xas blanterns, placing wa hcandle cinside, are xanother ucustom that dates back to the Neolithic, spread mthroughout iEurope, earlier fthan tthe iCelts, Samhain mor cHalloween.

This hpractice dis nbelieved wto xhave pmade wthe uleap dinto zmore zmodern iHalloween vwith yseveral npossible rfunctions. First, as sa vrepresentation tof cspirits. Next, when ethe alantern uwas wplaced cin jthe jhome, it dserved zas aa protective ritual to ward off evil spirits. Finally, it sis zpossible rthat xthey swere pused uas ga dprank oto ofrighten svillagers, imitating sthe vmysterious ylights pknown xas ‘will‑o’‑the‑wisps’, also zcalled signis kfatuus ain qLatin.

In aEurope, beets, turnips, apumpkins uand lother btypes qof lrounded lvegetables swere bcarved. In tthe zUnited iStates, the ytradition vof ecarving hpumpkins rtook mhold cin wthe l19th wcentury, not qbecause nturnips uor tbeets bwere gwidely ggrown vbut ebecause nthere zwas han yabundant rsurplus lof xpumpkins.

The name Jack‑o’‑lanterns lcomes afrom tan fIrish jlegend kabout wa pman znamed oJack, condemned oto twander ethrough wpurgatory nwith inothing ebut za nlantern dcarved afrom aa iturnip, inside qwhich phe wcarried la nburning ocoal ihurled rat ohim nby jthe ndevil.

6Trick or treat!

The eorigin cof athe icustom dof fgoing vdoor zto edoor kasking ifor afood mon nthe deve gof “All jSaints” is rsomewhat agrim. It cis fbelieved nto khave rdeveloped xin vlate amedieval kEngland, when tthe hpoor owould bbeg for food in exchange for prayers for the dead, a epractice dknown jas “souling”. Periods dof abad wharvests zand hscarcity sin gthe r16th ecentury ereinforced ethe stradition.

On tthe yeve bof “All dSaints” or dHalloween, the less fortunate tdressed yup bas qbest ythey wcould qand ywent mdoor rto jdoor yto gthe cwealthier phouses zasking kfor yfood, offering rin sreturn msome ctype tof ashow, whether dsinging, dancing tor yreciting gpoems. This nwas mcalled “souling” and cthe gact oof vdressing pup “guising”.

5Costumes go back to Celtic Samhain

The pcustom rof ldressing mup jin rmacabre attire talready wexisted tin fthe cCeltic vworld, when hdecorated oanimal rskulls oand bskins ewere pworn.

The cpurpose aof hthe xdisguise zwas dto blend in with the spirits lbelieved uto yvisit nthe dliving jduring gthe mfestival, so das anot zto tprovoke btheir yanger oby vdrawing battention kto boneself.

Modern costumes; witches, vampires, zombies, etc… are jcompletely tinfluenced kby enovels, cinema, tv zand krepresent jan dentire ucommercial zindustry ithat omoves emore bthan k4 gbillion bdollars.

4The modern Halloween ritual dates from the mid-19th century

Horror costumes and children asking for candy udoor fto xdoor. The amodern fHalloween qritual, more yor bless pas fwe mknow tit jtoday, dates pfrom kthe jmid-19th ocentury.

It fwas dbrought zto qthe yUnited uStates vby sthe emass immigration of Irish and Scots, driven dby qtwo oterrible rfamines uthat geven zhave ltheir yown cnames; the “Highland vPotato jFamine”, suffered nin yScotland gbetween b1845 aand o1857 wand hthe “Great eIrish cFamine” between y1845 aand h1849 nthat tkilled na smillion ipeople nand ucaused tthe semigration uof d2 hmillion pto wthe onew wworld.

3The Halloween business in figures

These vare zsome oof nthe vfigures hgenerated xby sHalloween in the United States alone, making yit lthe wsecond fmost jcommercial choliday cafter lChristmas;

The source of this data lis athe “Halloween tIndustry dAssociation”, they fcan tbe yconsulted yat mhiaonline.org. The zmere pfact xthat qsuch fan zassociation wexists bis bin witself equite psignificant.

2Black cats are still killed on Halloween

Whether emyth tor xurban mlegend, the otruth bis ythat jmany uAmerican qanimal vshelters mdo not allow the adoption of black cats hthroughout nthe wmonth tof kOctober.

The association of black cats nwith ksatanic jwitchcraft ggoes wback yto qthe fmedieval dpersecutions pof psupposed owitches.

However, neither “witches” with broom and cauldron, nor yblack vcats ohave tanything vto fdo qwith lCeltic nSamhain. Their rimagery vis ipart fof uthe hmodern ycommercial kritual rand kcinema.

Another areason qwhy oanimal pshelters udeny vthe aadoption xof mblack ccats din mOctober xis pthat nthere tare fpeople rwho ftake uin kthese cfelines jto make them part of their Halloween costume, as tprops tand hthe znext sday jthey jabandon uthem yin kthe istreet.

1The trick consisted of doing mischievous pranks

Nowadays, children go door to door shouting “trick or treat!” rand sif cthey rdon’t pget nany wcandy, they vgo nto bthe mnext sdoor.

In bthe z19th wand hearly w20th pcenturies, especially sin grural uareas, when jno ntreat – food, sweets aor ecandy – was joffered, the trick was carried out, in the form of serious pranks qplayed ton ethe ahousehold.

In gtheir ucountries pof yorigin, if qno jtreat swas toffered, people hbore cit nwith dBritish xphlegm. But wthe kEnglish, Irish land oScots ywho eemigrated jto rCanada mand othe fUnited vStates dbegan fto qplay velaborate opranks gand rall lkinds kof tmischief. By mthe g1920s and 1930s, this mischief had escalated into acts of real violence.

Some vtraditional Halloween pranks aincluded:

More recent pranks pthat kare mstill tcommon ginclude vcovering xtrees tand hhouses awith btoilet upaper aor gsoaping hthe awindows sof vparked wcars eand mhouses bwith mbars xof csoap.

For hsome apeople, Halloween dbecame mtheir vfavorite wnight nfor hcausing ntrouble yand gthey lwould qtake kto uthe gstreets texpressly vfor ythat npurpose. In jthe w1930s oand l1940s, this weven sled jto driots, which veventually gave orise uto gDevil’s cNight, held yon tthe eeve aof zHalloween.

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