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H
alloween is the strangest holi–
day of the entire year. On the
eve of November 1, children
dress as goblins or witches and
knock on doors, yelling " trick or
treat. " Some soap windows of
schools and stores, while others ac–
tually tear down mailboxes, steal
objects left unguarded in a person's
yard, and give the police a great
many headaches with their juvenile
vandalism.
To perpetuate this spirit of Hal–
loween with its frolicking fun, stores
are filled with black a nd orange
masks. pumpkins, and other ga udy
decorations that attract the eye.
Even some older people enjoy Hal–
loween's decorations, games, and
frivolity.
In th is "enlightened" age, with ig–
norance and superstition supposedly
had within the preceding 12 months
been condemned
to
inhabit the bod–
ies of animals.
Spirits Casting Evil Spells
lt was a pagan belief th at on on e
night of the year the so.uls of the
dead returned to their or iginal
homes to be entertained with food.
WHY
THESTRANGE
CUSTOMS
OF
time for the commemoration of the
dead.
Since the northern nations a t that
time began their day in the evening,
the eve leading up to November
1
was the beginning of the festival.
According to the Roman calendar,
in which days began at midnight,
it
was the evening of October 31.
And the meaning of Halloween?
lt
is a contraction of All Ha llow
Evening, later to be known as All
Saints' Day. Halloween was kep t in
one form o r another throughout the
pagan world.
"There was a prevailing belief
among al/ nations
that a t death the
souls of good men were taken pos–
session of by good spirits and car–
ri ed to paradise, but the souls of
wicked men were left to wander in
the space between the earth and
banished, nations
are still celebra t–
ing the old holi–
day, with its
goblins, the fear
of black cats, a nd
H"LLO'HEEN?
moon, or con–
signed to the un–
seen world. These
wandering spirits
wer e in the habit
of
haunting the
children masked as demons and
witches. In schools, children partici–
pate in Halloween parties, anticipat–
ing a hect ic nigh t of fun and
fool ishness.
The Strange Origin of a
Strange Holiday
Is this the way in which children
should be brought up?
Why
is this
holiday celebrated anyway? Where
did the custom of "trick or treat"
origina te?
It is time tha t peopl e who think
themselves
intel!igent
began to look
into the origin of this spirit of frivol–
ity and und ersta nd how it enter ed a
supposedly C hristian society.
How d id we get Ha lloween? lt
ce rtainly isn ' t Ch ristian in orig in. In
fact, Halloween and many of th e
em bellishments surrounding this
strange festival are of superstitious
and pagan origin.
The American celebration can be
traced back to Celtic folk customs,
which in turn originated in pre–
Christian times . The earliest Hal–
loween celebrati ons were held by
the Druids in Britain in honor of
Samhai n, lord of the dead, whose
festiva l fell on November
l.
On this
night, it was believed that Samhain
called toge ther the wicked souls that
The
PLAIN TRUTH October 1976
Where did Halloween come
from? Should it be observed?
Few realize just how enlight–
ened, twentieth-century man
came to observe such a su-
perstitious custom.
by
G. O. Marx
If food and shelter were not pro–
vided, these spirits were believed
to cast spells on those fa iling to
fu lfill their requests. It was the
ori gina l trick or treat, a time when
wicked spirits visited their earthly
haunts.
" It was the night for the universal
walking about of aU sorts of spirits,
faiües, and ghosts, al! of whom had
lib erty on that night," Alexander
Macgregor te lis us in his
H ighland
Superstitions.
And the liberty was
often of a destructive nature, so the
belief went.
But why was November 1 chosen
fo r thi s annual spir itu a l ge t–
toget he r? The Cel ts and o ther
northern people considered Novem–
ber 1 as their New Year. This was
th e time when the leaves were fall–
ing and a general seasonal decay
was taking place. lt seemed a fitting
living.
...
But there were means by
which these ghosts might be ex–
orcised"
(Folklore,
James Napier,
p.
11).
Exorcising Ghosts
To exorcise t hese spirits, that is, to
free yourself from tbe supposed evil
sway, you· wou ld have to set ou t
food - g ive the demons a trea t -
and provide shelter fo r t hem during
the night. If they were sa tisfied with
your offerings, they would leave you
in peace. If provoked , th ey would
"trick" you by casting an evil spell
on you.
Leaving food about didn' t always
satisfy the spirit world. Sometimes
more drastic measures needed to be
employed to escape their wrath such
as starting bonfires. Uninvited spir–
its, fairies, and ghosts were believed
to wander a round the a rea and
could only be dispersed by bonfi.res
or burning torches. John Brand , in
hi s
Popular Antiquities ofGreat Brit–
ain,
written in 1849, men tions that
during bis life time there was a cus–
tom in horth Wales on the eve of
November 1 of "ma king a great tire
called
Coel Coeth,
when every fam–
ily for abou t one hour in tbe nigh t
made a grea t bonfi.re in the most
conspicuous place near the house."
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