The Synergy Project Magazine - October 2020

By: Lauren Daniels
Halloween has grown to be
very popular and is a favorite
holiday to many across the globe,
mainly in the United States and
Canada. But Halloween has not
always been the hallmark holiday
filled with spooky decorations,
costumes, and tons of candy.
I conducted a survey in order
to see what Halloween meant
to people and if they knew the
origin of this holiday. From the 26
responses, mostly the answers
indicated that Halloween meant
candy, parties, scary movies,
trick-or-treating, costumes, and
spending time with friends. A
few answers also expressed it is
an opportunity to be someone
other than themselves, show off
costume making skills, embrace
what scares you, and relinquish the
cold, seasonal depression. When
it came to knowing the origin, 24%
had no clue what the origin was,
52% noted uncertainty in their
answers with an overall vague
response, and 20% had a certain
answer that was correct. Only one
response really seemed to nail it
on the head though. Isn’t it ironic
how Halloween is so loved, yet the
origin is so unclear for many? The
origin is uncertain in history as well,
as there is no one culture that has
defined our modern-day holiday
and it is rather a mix of cultures,
traditions, and religions from
various countries.
Around 2000 years ago, the
Celts were largely congregated in
Western Europe and the British
Isles. They celebrated the end of
the harvest season, marking their
new year, with a festival known as
Samhain (/saa·wn/) (“Halloween
History”, 2007). The pagans and
Irish also celebrated Samhain.
Protonic Celts and the Welsh
celebrated a similar holiday, Calan
Gaeaf (McLeod, 2020). Samhain
means summer’s end and is the
Irish word for November (Lang,
2018). It was celebrated from
sunrise to sundown and marked
the beginning of winter. During this
time, cattle were stocked up. Cattle
were very important to Celts since
they symbolized wealth and were
a form of currency. On the first day
of spring, the cattle were brought
to the pasture to graze and during
Samhain they were brought back in
order to be slaughtered (“Samhain”,
2013). There were many feasts,
horse races, and consumption of
alcohol during Samhain (“The Celtic
Festival”, 2019).
The world was dying and
becoming darker, therefore they
believed strange things occurred.
It was said that during this time,
the ghosts of the dead walked the
earth since the veil between death
in the underworld and life on earth
was at its thinnest (“Halloween
History”, 2007). They tried to
remain close to their villages
during this time, used bonfires
that mimicked the sun, and wore
costumes from animal skins to
ward off evil spirits, or Aos Sí, back
to the underworld (“Halloween
History”, 2007). These costumes
were made from animal skins
usually and they felt safe in them
since they were unrecognizable
to these spirits (“History of
Halloween”, 2019). Not all spirits
were bad, as some were believed
to be passed loved ones, so they
left food and drinks for some.
Offerings like crops and animals
were given to the gods (“The
Halloween Bonfire”, n.d.).
The Romans also had a
large influence on modern-day
Halloween as well, such as the
creation of apple bobbing. They
bobbed for apples to honor the
goddess Pomona yet some argue it
was also for fortune telling in Irish
cultures (Emery, 2019). Lupercalia
and Lemuria were similar to
Samhain. Lupercalia was a nineday
celebration in February that
celebrated love and purified the
city from evil spirits. Lemuria was
in May and concentrated on driving
out foul spirits (“Ancient Roman
Holidays”, 2012). During Lemuria
the head of the Roman household
would guard the house at night
throwing beans over their shoulder
chanting, “Haec ego mitto; his
redimo meque meosque fabis” nine
times. This translates to “I send
these; with these beans, I redeem
me and mine”. The household
members would bang pots and
chant, nine times, “ Ghosts of my
fathers and ancestors, be gone!”
(Schmitz, n.d.). Milk was poured on
graves and food was also offered to
appeal to the dead (Lux, 2004).
Warfare was prevalent
during these times. Germanic
tribes often fought with the celts.
The Romans conquered Celtic
territories like France and much
of pre-Englo-Saxon Britain, but
not Ireland, creating a melting
pot of their traditions (“Who
Were Celts”, 2017). In the 4th
century AD, immense changes
occurred. Constantinople the