Happy Halloween! I hope you have a great day, however you choose to mark this day. Whether it’s going the full hog with costumes, decorations, ritual sacrifices and a burnt offering to the Dark Lord, or curled up on the couch with the curtains closed and lights off, hoping no one comes a-knocking. As my last post for this Halloween, here are five little known facts from Halloween history that might tickle your fancy. Enjoy!
Did you know All Saints Day was moved to 31 October to capitalise on already established pagan festivities?
The reason why had to do with syncretism (converting pagan gods, temples and celebrations to Christian purposes). Originally 31 October was celebrated by the pagan Celts as Samhain, a night that marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter, essentially making it their New Year. A Celtic day began at sunset and so Samhain started when darkness fell on 31 October.
On this night, they believed the doorway between the worlds of the living and the dead opened, and the sidh (fairies) could come and bother humans. Samhain was a big celebration, bringing together many people to share the fruits of the harvest, settle debts, execute people guilty of particularly heinous crimes, and light bonfires. Even though the Celts became Christianised, their observance of the festival didn’t go away.
In the mid-eight century, Pope Gregory III moved the feast of martyrs to 1 November, the same date the Celts celebrated Samhain. Because what you really want is a bunch of people celebrating your gods, not someone else’s. All Saints’ Day (or All Hallow’s Day) became a day to celebrate ‘all the saints’. Within one hundred years it had become a universal observance for Christians.
The revelry continued, particularly the ringing of bells, and the day retained much of its pagan flavour, combining celebrations and a reflection on death, although it just happened under another name. Which is where we get ‘Halloween’ from.
Did you know that for a while people celebrated two Halloweens?
In 1582 when the Gregorian calendar was signed into effect by Pope Gregory XIII, not everyone made the switch at the same time. Protestants were slow to accept the new calendar, and it wasn’t until 1752 that Britain adopted it. By that time, the new calendar was out of step by 11 days with the old. This meant that Halloween was then being celebrated on 11/12 November, despite Martinmas already being celebrated on this day. Nevertheless, whatever the day was called, it involved drinking, feasting, merrymaking and fortunetelling.
Did you know that the word bonfire is likely derived from ‘bone-fire’?
Bonfires were big on Halloween. The word bonfire likely dates back to the burning of the bones of St John the Baptist in the fourth century AD. Despite attempts by the Catholic Church to abolish bonfires, they continued to be lit and danced around, particularly on Guy Fawkes’ Night, which takes place only a few nights after Halloween. (Remember, remember the fifth of November.)
Did you know Halloween was banned in Britain in 1647?
That’s right. And the only festival allowed to be celebrated was Guy Fawkes’ Day/Night. Halloween went underground for a couple of centuries before the Scots, who’d always loved a bit of spookiness, revived it. Robert Burns’ poem ‘Hallowe’en’ did a lot to cement the picture of what Halloween was like for people in the 18th and would become in the 19th century in North America.
Did you know that the razorblades-in-apples story is just an urban legend?
While that didn’t happen, there have been some nasty stories to do with trick-or-treating. One is about 8 year old Timothy Mark O’Bryan who died in 1974 after eating a cyanide-laced pixie stick. But before you get all panicked about letting your kids go trick-or-treating, it was Timothy’s father who’d poisoned the pixie stick – and five others that were given to Timothy’s friends. Luckily, none of the other children had eaten them.
Want to combine a bit of history with witches, vampires and a bit of romantic horror? Then download my book Beckoning Blood. It’s a great Halloween read.
Source: Trick or treat: a history of Halloween, Lisa Morton, Reaktion Books, 2012
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