Every year at the end of October, something peculiar happens. Children roam around the neighborhood and ignore the cardinal rule of “never take candy from strangers.” Instead of cleaning up real spider webs, people put up fake ones and call them decorations. Rather than throw away the hollowed-out carcass of a large orange gourd, they put a face on it and proudly display it on the front porch.
And some people wear colorful costumes to school or social functions.
It must be Halloween.
In some form or another, people have been celebrating this time of year for centuries. According to Daniel Wojcik, a professor of folklore at the University, the earliest roots of Halloween come from the Celtic people of Ireland. The time of year surrounding Oct. 31 was known as Samhain (pronounced SAUW-een) and used to mark the end of one year and the beginning of the next, he said. Nov. 1 was the Celtic New Year, and Oct. 31 was New Year’s Eve.
Samhain is more than just a harvest celebration, however, and the rituals are still alive today. Norma Joyce, the high priestess of the local group Women in Conscious Creative Action, said, “There are two worlds: the overworld and the physical world. They rotate in a manner that they come closer together starting in October, and (on Samhain) they touch.”
This is a “limital period,” Wojcik said, “where the souls of the dead return to the earth and the veil between the two worlds lifted.”
Joyce calls this time an astrological “tension point” and said that it is “our time to go through the veil and communicate more easily with the dead.” Joyce said the actual date of this “intersection of worlds” has changed based on the movement of the stars and planets and is now actually on Nov. 6.
Most of the modern manifestations of Halloween do not come from the original Celtic celebration of Samhain, Joyce said. As with other holidays celebrated in America, Christianity has had an influence. According to Wojcik, in 601 A.D., Pope Gregory told his clergymen to allow the people to continue with their native beliefs and practices, but to incorporate them into Christian celebrations. Nov. 1 was deemed All Saints’ Day, and as the name suggests, it was a day to commemorate all the Catholic saints, Wojcik said. The evening before was All Hallows Eve, he said.
The various symbols and rituals associated with Halloween are a mixture of Christian and Celtic practices, Wojcik said. While no one knows for sure where trick-or-treating started, he said, “in some regions it was believed in this time of ‘supernatural presence’ that by setting out food and drink to appease the wandering spirits, the mischievous ‘tricks’ of the otherworldly beings could be avoided.”
As the tradition developed, children and beggars would mask themselves and go door to door, promising a “trick” if they didn’t get a “treat,” Wojcik said.
“Being generous at this time was believed to bring one good fortune throughout the year,” he said.
Joyce recognizes this practice as a way of “paying off the evil spirits.”
The origins of the jack o’ lantern — a carved pumpkin illuminated with a candle — are as unclear as most Halloween traditions, according to the book “Halloween,” written by Wiccan Priestess Silver RavenWolf.
“Folklorists have not been able to pinpoint the birth of the tale of Jack and his frightening lantern,” RavenWolf wrote. However, “the theme of the story appears to have Christian roots.”
According to Joyce, two possibilities exist: Christians might have used jack-o’-lanterns to “warn away the devil,” or the Celts may have used them as a way to call the souls of their departed loved ones back.
Wojcik also offered an interpretation of Halloween’s function in modern society. Halloween gives people a chance to “break the rules” and behave in a fashion that is normally not acceptable, he said.
“The rules of society can be lifted a little bit,” Wojcik said. “Children have a night where they can threaten adults with mischief and get away with it.”
Adults also take advantage of this “suspension of rules,” he said, allowing them to “explore their own fears or desires” in their costuming and behavior.
The modern American celebration of Halloween is, more than anything, an excuse to party and “release tension,” Joyce said. For the members of her group, however, Samhain is “a sacred time,” not a time to party, she added. Wicca will have a ritual to commemorate this time of “the lifting of the veil between two worlds,” she said. Joyce recognizes the need for emotional release, however.
“Because of the spiritual tension,” she said, “people need a way to get it out — either through ritual or a party.”