Halloween is a popular celebration, mostly in Western countries, where Christians call it "All Hallow's Eve" or "All Saint' Eve", occurs annually on the night of the 31st of October.
On the evening of the 31st of October, children knock on their neighbours doors 'trick-or-treating', dressed as creatures of the dead, such as ghouls, demons, ghosts, vampires and anything horror-related. Shouting 'trick or treat', they are given sweets. Houses and porches are decorated with skeletons, skulls, pumpkins with faces and grimaces carved on them, with candles lit inside them, and other tacky devices such as spray-on cobwebs on the corners of windows. Mostly, families treat it in a prosaic fashion, with all the grotesque elements being suitably ridiculous to be children-friendly. Adults, especially alternative subcultures such as goths, punks, metallers, celebrate Halloween in specially-arranged nightclub events, drunken parties and fancy dress. As not everyone celebrates it, although it is becoming more and more popular, a tradition has spread from the USA where those who wish to take part leave their porch lights on, so children know to avoid houses with them off.
Who Celebrates Halloween?
“Halloween in Mexico: In the fall, countless numbers of Monarch butterflies return to Mexico and the shelter of its oyamel fir trees. The beliefs of the Aztecs live on in many contemporary Mexicans who believe that the butterflies bear the spirits of their dead ancestors. It is these spirits that the people honor during "Los Dias de los Muertos" (The Days of the Dead). It is a joyous, happy holiday - a time of remembering past friends and family who have died. It is celebrated, during Halloween, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, OCT-31 to NOV-2. Altars in the homes are decorated with bread, candy, fruit, and flowers. Candles are lit in memory of their ancestors. The people dress up as ghouls, ghosts, mummies and skeletons. They parade a live person in a coffin through the streets. Vendors toss fruit, flowers and candies into the coffin. Families visit the cemetery carrying tools to spruce up the graves and decorate them. They stay over-night. American Halloween customs are gradually taking over this celebration. ”Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance "Halloween Customs and Traditions"4
Halloween originated "in Ireland as the pagan Celtic harvest festival, Samhain"1, which is pronounced "sowwen", where in English it became known as "All Hallows Eve". The Celts 'coalesced as a society circa 800BCE'4. It occured on their celebration of the new year, and was the biggest and most important celtic holy day2. The word 'Samhain' comes from the Gaelic words for "summer" and "end". They believed that at this time, the years' dead would traverse the Earth, the good ones being taken up into Tir Na Nog, the others remaining behind. The bad spirits that were left behind could pose a threat to the living, so, the Celts performed many ritualistic and symbolic acts to prevent themselves from being harmed. These 'wards' lay behind nearly all the elements of modern Halloween.
Some specifics are decidedly not Celtic in origin: For example, there were no pumpkins in Europe during Celtic times3. Some elements of halloween might be Celtic:
"Apples were considered have long been associated with female deities, and with immortality, resurrection, and knowledge. [If] an apple is cut through its equator, it will reveal a five-pointed star outlined at the center of each hemisphere. This was [a] Goddess symbol among the Roma (Gypsies), Celts, Egyptians, etc. There are many Halloween folk traditions associated with apples"4
"As a result of their efforts to wipe out "pagan" holidays, such as Samhain, the Christians succeeded in effecting major transformations in it. In 601 A.D., Pope Gregory I issued a now famous edict to his missionaries concerning the native beliefs and customs of the peoples he hoped to convert. Rather than try to obliterate native peoples' customs and beliefs, the pope instructed his missionaries to use them: if a group of people worshipped a tree, rather than cut it down, he advised them to consecrate it to Christ and allow its continued worship. [...] Church holy days were purposely set to coincide with native holy days. Christmas, for instance, was assigned the arbitrary date of December 25th because it corresponded with the mid-winter celebration of many peoples."2
Their justification for the imposition of Christianity over Halloween, was another act of conquering: The Christians took over the Pantheon at Rome, the Roman 'All Gods' place of worship. They turned it into a Cathedral which they called the "Church of the Blessed Virgin and All Martyrs".
"Pope Boniface IV established [All Saints' Day, or All Hallow's Day] when he consecrated the Pantheon on May 13, 609 (or 610). This Christian feast day was moved to November 1st from May 13th by Pope Gregory III in the eighth century in order to mark the dedication of the All Saints Chapel in Rome - establishing November 1st as All Saints Day and October 31st as All Hallows' Eve. Initially this change of date only applied to the diocese of Rome, but was extended to the rest of Christendom a century later by Pope Gregory IV in an effort to standardize liturgical worship. [...] Because Samhain had traditionally fallen the night before All Hallows', it eventually became known as All Hallows' Even' or Hallowe'en. While Celts were happy to add All Saints' Day to their calendar, they were unwilling to give up their existing festival of the dead and continued to celebrate Samhain."1
“After one's own birthday, the two major Satanic holidays are Walpurgisnacht and Halloween (or All Hallows' Eve). [...] Halloween - All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Day - falls on October 31st or November 1st. Originally, All Hallows' Eve was one of the great fire festivals of Britain at the time of the Druids. In Scotland it was associated with the time when the spirits of the dead, the demons, witches, and sorcerers were unusually active and propitious. Paradoxically, All Hallows' Eve was also the night when young people performed magical rituals to determine their future marriage partners. The youth of the villages carried on with much merry-making and sensual revelry, but the older people took great care to safeguard their homes from the evil spirits, witches, and demons who had exceptional power that night.”
The Satanic elements of Halloween are:
Anton LaVey
"The Satanic Bible". 1969, Avon Books Inc, New York, USA.
Notes:
By Vexen Crabtree 2006 Sep 06