Halloween – folk or popular?

• APHG @ RHS• Magidman

Folk Origins in Ireland• Halloween has its

origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "sah-win").

• The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture.

• Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter.

• The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops

• The festival would frequently involve bonfires. It is believed that the fires attracted insects to the area which attracted bats to the area. These are additional attributes of the history of Halloween.

• Masks and consumes were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.

• "During this interval the normal order of the universe is suspended, the barriers between the natural and the supernatural are temporarily removed, the sidh* lies open and all divine beings and the spirits of the dead move freely among men and interfere sometimes violently, in their affairs" (Celtic Mythology, p. 127).

The Sidhe

• The people known as "The Sidhe" or people of the mounds, or "The Lordly Ones" or "The Good People" were descended from the "Tuatha de Danann" who settled in Ireland millennia ago and in being defeated by the Milesians they retreated to a different dimension of space and time than our own, believed to be living under mounds and fairy raths and cairns

• http://www.shee-eire.com/magic&mythology/fairylore/Sidhe/page%201.htm

Roman Conquest Blends Customs

• By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory.

• During their rule of the Celtic lands, Roman festivals were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The Romans observed the holiday of Feralia, intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made sacrifices in honor of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made oblations to them.

• Another festival was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween

Jack-o-lantern

• the term jack-o'-lantern originally meant a night watchman, or man with a lantern, with the earliest known use in the mid-17th century; and later, meaning an ignis fatuus or will-o'-the-wisp.

• In Labrador and Newfoundland, both names "Jacky Lantern" and "Jack the Lantern" refer to the will-o'-the-wisp concept rather than the pumpkin carving aspect.

Relocation Diffusion of Halloween

• Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century.

• Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom as well as of Australia and New Zealand.

How it is (or isn’t) celebrated• Ireland – Street parties, bonfires, fireworks• US/Canada – Costumes, Trick-or-treating,

parties• Russia – banned in some schools by the

Orthodox Church as the “cult of death”• Norway – popularized by Donald Duck

cartoons! Parties, “knask eller knep!”• Japan – American pop culture, but also Odon

festival of the dead in August, floating paper lanterns

Halloween in Japan

• http://www.harajuku-halloween.com/?target=photo#

• http://www.harajuku-halloween.com/?target=photo#

• http://www.harajuku-halloween.com/?target=photo#

More Global Halloween…

• Mexico – Day of the Dead, carnivals, parties, skulls

• Austria - some people leave bread, water, and a lighted lamp on the table when they go to bed for returning spirits

• Poland - doors and windows are left open to welcome the spirits or the visiting souls.

And More Halloween trivia…

• UK – London Zombie Walk!• Sweden – Stockholm Ghost Walk, adult

parties• Germany – festival at Castle

Frankenstein, all knives are put away in case returning spirits are upset