Hocus pocus, Halloween, what a year it has been
Some of the traditions have roots in the folklore of the late 1800s.
Today, 31 October, is Halloween, a day on which children across the world wear their fairy or zombie costumes and take over the neighbourhood for a trick or a treat, while pumpkins with carved smiles light the way and scary stories lurk around in the circles of scared faces.
This day sprouted from the historical roots of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), and the bad, as well as all the faithful who had departed.
The most famous traditions that are still practised around the world include trick-or-treating, where kids take to the streets in their costumes, going house to house and collecting buckets full of sweets; Halloween costume parties; the carving of pumpkins into Jack-o’-lanterns; apple bobbing; playing pranks; visiting haunted attractions; telling scary stories, and watching horror films until the day is over.
Some of the traditions have roots in the folklore of the late 1800s. For example, Celtic folklore tells the tale of a drunken farmer named Jack who tricked the devil, but his trickery resulted in him being turned away from both the gates of Heaven and Hell after he died. Having no choice but to wander around the darkness of Purgatory, Jack made a lantern from a turnip and a burning lump of coal that the Devil had tossed him from Hell. It was said that he used the lantern to guide his lost soul. The Celts believed that placing Jack-o’-lanterns outside would help guide lost spirits home when they wandered the streets on Halloween.
Originally made using a hollowed-out turnip with a small candle inside, the frightening carved faces of the Jack-o’-lanterns’ also served to scare evil spirits away. When the Irish potato famine of 1846 forced Irish families to flee to North America, the tradition came with them. Since turnips were hard to come by in the States at the time, pumpkins were used as a substitute.
Bats are also often associated with Halloween. Medieval folklore also described bats as witches’ familiars, and seeing a bat on Halloween was considered to be quite an ominous sign.
In the Olden times, it was believe that on Halloween, the veil dividing the two worlds, the living and the spirits, was at its thinnest, and that the spirits could join the living on the day and mingle. It was believed that the spirits disguised themselves in human form, and would knock on your door and ask for food or any token. If you turned them away empty-handed, it was believed that you would then suffer the wrath and anger of the spirits.
Another Celtic myth was that when you dressed up as an evil spirit or ghoul, and also went from house to house, knocking on doors and asking for a token, you would fool the evil spirits into thinking that you were one of them, so they wouldn’t try to steal your soul. And so the Trick-or-Treat tradition started.
The traditional Halloween colours of orange and black stem from the pagan celebration of autumn and the harvest, with orange symbolising the colours of the crops and turning leaves, while black marks the “death” of summer and the changing season. Over time, green, purple and yellow have also been introduced into the colour scheme for Halloween decorations.
Halloween has been celebrated for centuries, as a fun and enjoyable night for all. This one day allows you to dress up as crazily as you can, and ask for candy without anyone saying the words, “Aren’t you worried about your figure?” or “Don’t you think you should cut back a little?” or even “Aren’t you too old to be dressed like a princess?”
So for those who still enjoy the traditional Halloween celebrations, “When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam, may luck be yours on Halloween.”
