ROTARY CLUB NEWS: Halloween is rooted in a Celtic pagan festival

Samhain

by Gary Kennedy

Halloween is rooted in a Celtic pagan festival called Samhain (SAH-WANE). This was earlier appropriated by the early Catholic Church approximately 1,500 years ago. After the Celtics were conquered by the Romans, pagan traditions were adopted into the holiday honoring Catholic saints, the ancient Celts consisted of tribes and small kingdoms that were strewn across western and central Europe. Even though the Romans conquered the Celts, they continued to survive and even thrive in places such as Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Samhain, is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or darker half of the year. This point in time is also referred to as “All Saints Day” or “All Souls Day”. Old Irish literature traces this holiday back to approximately the 9th century. Most of us have believed that this was a celebration of the harvest but for the Celts it was more for the rearing of cattle. The Celts were mostly involved in the cattle business. In the spring they would drive their cattle north for pasturing and at the beginning of winter they were driven south because of climatic change.

Irish mythology states Samhain (Halloween) was a time when the doorways to the other world were opened allowing for supernatural beings and souls of the dead to come into our world. Offerings and sacrifices were made during this holiday. Supposedly two-thirds of the people’s children were taken as well as a substantial amount of the corn crop. You can see why this holiday took on a ghoulish, scary atmosphere. Through time, the scarier the better. A foundation was thus laid for all things of the dark side, lanterns with teeth made from pumpkins, headless horsemen, black cats, witches, curses and magic brews, were imagined. The centuries have blown this holiday up big. This made it more exciting and laid a great evil canvas of which to invent more.

Even though we look at this as some kind of fairy tale, not all was imagined. As we know, through recorded time a lot of cruel and barbaric things did come from this or did this come from barbaric time? We know human beings were drawn and quartered; burnt at the stake, tortured in the most grotesque of ways, to name just a few.

As we all know this has led to one of the most profitable holidays of all time; for all things scary, cruel and evil. If you add 3-D to the mix you come up with some great special effects. Some of the movies derived from this holiday and time have netted great profits for those with the imagination for the culmination of all things scary and evil. Profits derived from these things range in the billions. (Our own Steven King comes to mind). Some of the old ways still survive today in a few countries. Cruelty has survived the test of time and Halloween is a remnant of this.

All this being said, the holiday can still be a lot of fun. Those that don’t have knowledge of the previously mentioned events look at Halloween through different eyes and with the lack of history’s depiction of how this holiday came about. We dress our children in costumes, some ghoulish but many are straight out of Disney. “Trick or Treat” has lost its meaning and we for the most part don’t trick people who don’t give us candy. Over time our families have taught us a more moral sense to the holiday. Some of the little ones don’t even knock on doors any more but instead join others at a private party of known friends. This has proven to be a much safer way to celebrate the holidays. There are still evil people out there that might want to harm you. Because we love our little ones we tend to find great ways to protect them without spoiling the fun. I have only shared a very small part of what this holiday’s history entails. There is much more if you would like to research the library.

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. Stay safe and look after each other. It’s because we love you that we set rules of protection. Have a happy Halloween and God Bless.