I love Halloween!! Is it because of the candy, costumes and parties?? Well, partly, but it has much more to do with the wonderful time of year Halloween falls - beautiful October - with it's smell of apples, pumpkins and colorful tress. And of course, I love Halloween because of my my Celtic heritage - who doesn't love the mystique and beauty of Celtic Ireland???? :)
Halloween is usually linked to the Pagan festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)" This name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".
The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year".
The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off evil spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Bonfires also played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire.
Once the Catholics came to Ireland in the 8th century, they brought with them the holiday of All Saint's Day and they tried to combine it with the already existing feast of Samhain. The name Halloween (originally spelled Hallowe'en) is a contraction of All Hallows Eve, meaning the day before All Hallows Day (better known as All Saints Day), observed since the early Middle Ages on November 1.
When the Irish came in droves to the U.S. in the 1840s during the potato famine, they brought some of these traditions with them. Today instead of bonfires we have pumpkins with candles, but it's still a night to scare away bad spirits.
In North America, trick-or-treating has been a customary Halloween tradition since at least the late 1950s. The tradition of going from door to door receiving food already existed in the Middle Ages in Britain and Ireland, called "souling". Children and poor people would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1) sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes or prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). Trick-or-treating in North America may also have come from the custom of "Guising" — children disguised in costumes going from door to door for food and coins. This was already traditional at Halloween by the 19th century in Scotland and Ireland.
Halloween traditions from North America have been exported all over the world, much to the chagrin of many nations. The culture of Halloween is not something that necessarily correlates to other countries' traditions, but yet it is almost a given that it will be celebrated at least in English language schools worldwide. Does this even make sense? In the school I was at in Sao Paulo they had pumpkin carving and costume competitions, but students had no ideas what they were celebrating or why. And do they need Halloween when they already have Carnaval just before Lent???
In France too it was just starting to become popular when I was there in the late 1990s, but certainly not with everyone. Halloween in France is definitely controversial, due to the perception of corporate and cultural influence, as well as the fact that it is not a typical French holiday and some people still don't understand what is being celebrated. Companies like France Télécom, McDonald's, Disney, and Coca Cola used pumpkins and other Halloween images and ideas in publicity campaigns. This simultaneously increased French people's knowledge about Halloween and made it seem like another imposition of American culture.
At least Halloween makes a little more sense for France than Brazil, for example. France also has Celtic origins in Bretagne (Brittany, the region in the Northwest corner of France). But because Halloween is seen as an American celebration, some French people refuse to enjoy it, having decided to include it in their anti-American boycott. It's too early to tell whether Halloween will develop into a long-term tradition; once the novelty wears off, it may turn out to be just a fad. And yet, interestingly, the French have been celebrating the ideas at the very heart of Halloween (respect for the dead) for centuries. 31 October to 2 November, collectively referred to as "La Toussaint", have traditionally been spent, especially by older generations, visiting cemeteries, honoring saints, and attending religious services.
Among Spanish-speaking nations, Halloween time is known as "El Dia de los Muertos." It is a joyous and happy holiday...a time to remember friends and family who have died. Officially commemorated on November 2 (All Souls' Day), the three-day celebration actually begins on the evening of October 31. Designed to honor the dead who are believed to return to their homes on Halloween, many families construct an altar in their home and decorate it with candy, flowers, photographs, fresh water and samples of the deceased's favorite foods and drinks. In Mexico during the Autumn, countless numbers of Monarch butterflies return to the shelter of Mexico's oyamel fir trees. It was the belief of the Aztecs that these butterflies bore the spirits of dead ancestors.
During these days, relatives also tidy the grave sites of deceased family members and the grave is then adorned with flowers, wreaths or paper streamers. On November 2, relatives gather at the grave site to picnic and reminisce. Some of these gatherings may even include tequila and a mariachi band, although American Halloween customs are gradually taking over this celebration. I love this idea!
But what about the North American traditions of Halloween? Are they doomed to take over all cultures around the world through corporate influence and advertising? I hope not. Many countries honor their deceased at this time of year, but they should do be able to do so within their own customs and to their own liking. I hate to see Halloween as we know it become completely commercial and lose all meaning behind it as it is already starting to do.
I guess I prefer to remember the less commercial time of Halloween from was when I was little...the caramel apples and delicious candy, the wonderful smells of Fall and of candles in pumpkins in front of houses, children in costume swashing through leaves on the sidewalk as they went trick-or-treating from house to house, and older children bobbing for apples with friends...Was it ever like this or is my nostalgia running away from me?;)
At any rate, I can't imagine celebrating Halloween anywhere apart from a cold Autumn initiating the sensation of Celtic bonfires and spirits in bygone days of Ireland...
Happy Halloween everyone!!
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