Trick-or-Treat Traditions and Trivia

by Zsuzsana Summer

 

Hello, dear readers. Hallowe'en is just around the corner so while we get ready to carve out pumpkins and select our scariest costumes for parties and trick-or-treating, let's look at the origins of this spooky and very 'spirited' holiday.

 

The word Hallowe'en is derived from the fact that in the Christian calendar it occurs the day before All Saints' or All Hallows' Day. It was the ancient Celts, however, who first began celebrating November 1st as a harvest feast, the final harvest of the year, and this day was considered the end of one year and the beginning of the new. It was in 835 that Pope Gregory IV decided to move the Christian feast of All Saints' Day to November 1. This was likely done in keeping with a common church practice designed to eradicate pagan customs not by abolishing them, which would require a great deal of effort, but instead by remaking them into Christian holidays by association.

 

Pagans, Wiccans and Druids to this day celebrate this ancient festival called Samhain (pronounced 'sow'-en, with the 'sow' rhyming with 'cow') as a major sabbat. The word 'Samhain' comes from the Gaelic words for 'the end of summer' and it was the time of a solar festival saying goodbye to the sun and praying for its return after the winter. According to the Celts, all turning points and transitions, such as the time between one day and the next, the meeting of sea and shore at the tides, or the turning of one year into the next were inherently magickal. The turning of the year was the most mysterious and magickal of all. At this time, the veil between the worlds was at its thinnest, and the living could communicate with their ancestors and all the souls of the dead who resided in the land of "Tir nan Og". Time and space were suspended at Samhain and on this night, as it was believed that the boundary between this life and the afterlife was extremely thin, the souls of the recently departed could walk the earth freely once again, along with the faeries and witches and hobgoblins and evil spirits too.

 

Many of our modern Hallowe'en traditions are rooted in the customs these ancient people devised to honour their dead and protect themselves from the evil spirits at the same time. In Celtic traditions, people would leave food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the “wandering dead” on this feast day. The Celts would parade to the outskirts of their villages with offerings of sweets and baked goods for the souls of the dead. It was hoped that the spirits would follow these parades and thereby keep the villagers safe from any mischief and evil. Apples were buried along roadsides for spirits who were lost or had no-one to provide for them. To disguise themselves and confuse evil spirits on this night, the Celts would paint their faces with soot and wear costumes made of straw or animal pelts. These traditions, among with many others (please keep reading) later evolved into our modern day custom of trick-or-treating.

 

Offerings of food or milk were often left on doorsteps for the fairies who were abroad on the night before Samhain, ensuring the homeowner the blessings of the mischievous 'wee folk' throughout the coming year.  Many families would also leave out a "dumb supper" for the spirits of the departed, and extra chairs and place settings were set at the table and around the hearth for unseen guests. A "dumb supper" is a meal eaten in total silence, in honour of ancestors and souls of the dead. The departed are invited to this meal and are present as invisible entities. Doors and windows are often left unlocked to let these souls into the house and take their places at the table. Some traditions call for the meal to be eaten backwards, and various rituals accompany this unusual but enduring rite depending on where it is practised.

Trick-or-Treating

 

Our modern day trick or treating, which in America can be traced back to the 1930's, probably has its roots in a number of different customs.

 

Among the Celts, faeries, hobgoblins, trolls, brownies and elves were believed to roam the lands and abounded in full force on a magickal night such as the eve of Samhain. While some of these wee folk were friendly and helpful, many were known to be very dangerous, from the mere mischief-makers to the downright nasty. Being resentful of humankind for taking over their lands, it was believed that on the eve of Samhain, faeries would sometimes trick humans into becoming lost and trapped forever in the 'sidhe' (pronounced 'shee'), which were the fairy mounds that dotted the rolling landscape. Wee folk were blamed for all manner of awful tricks upon humans, from blighting the fields to stealing children, so tasty offerings were left out for the little creatures to placate them and keep them from wreaking any mischief upon the homes and households.

 

Some sources say that in order to avoid being possessed by the souls of the dead at Samhain, Celtic villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes to make them cold and dark. They would then dress up in ghoulish costumes and handmade masks and parade noisily around the neighborhood, creating as much ruckus as they could in order to frighten away strange spirits looking for bodies to possess and to fool the spirits with their disguises.

 

From my research, it appears that in the British Isles, in the early years of Christianity (and comprising a blending of Celtic, Roman and Christian tradition) witches and demons too were thought to wander the streets on Hallowe'en night alongside the souls of the dead. Offerings of food and drink ensured protection against these entities entering the houses to help themselves to sustenance. In later years, people began dressing up as these very horrific creatures and going door to door, sometimes performing antics in exchange for offerings of food and drink.

 

During early celebrations of All Soul's Day in Britain, the poor would go begging and housewives would give them special treats called "soulcakes", square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. It was believed that the souls of the dead remained in limbo for some time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could assist a soul on its passage to heaven. This custom was called "going a-souling", and the "soulers" would promise to say a prayer for the dead. Over the years the custom changed and the children of the towns and villages would act as beggars, going from door to door and being given treats and even money.

 

To release a person from ghost possession, throw dust from your footprint at them.

 

If a candles flame suddenly turns blue, there's a ghost nearby.

 

A spider appearing on Hallowe'en is probably the spirit of a deceased loved one who has come to visit.

 

Burying animal bones or a picture of a loved animal near the doorway prevents ghosts from entering your home on Hallowe'en.

 

Owls were thought to swoop down from the skies to eat the souls of the dying. A common remedy against this was to turn your pockets inside out.

 

If you go to a crossroads at Hallowe'en and listen to the wind, you will learn all the most important things that will befall you during the next twelve months.

 

To meet a witch, put your clothes on inside out and walk backwards on Hallowe'en night. At midnight a witch is supposed to appear.

 

If you ring a bell on Hallowe'en, it will scare evil spirits away

 

Walking around your house three times backwards and counterclockwise before sunset on Hallowe'en will ward off evil.

 

Oatmeal and salt placed on children's heads to protects them from evil.

 

Placing a Jack-o-lantern on your porch or in your window will frighten evil spirits away but will also welcome deceased loved ones on Hallowe'en.

 

Hallowe'en is an ideal time for divination of all kinds as the veils are so thin at this between-time. The Celts believed all normal order in the universe and the laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.

 

Just remember, if you hear footsteps behind you on Hallowe'en, don't turn around! It might be a lost soul looking for a host and if he happens to like the wiggle in your walk, well, don't say you haven't been warned.

 

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Thanks to everyone who has been writing to me with personal experiences and responses to the column. I hope to include a selection of your letters in next week's column. If you have any thrilling or chilling Hallowe'en experiences to share, please send them in.