While I certainly enjoyed getting costumed up and heading out to collect a sack full of candy on Halloween as a kid, even then I wondered what it was all about. As it turns out, Halloween’s origins are part of my Irish heritage.
All Hallows’ Eve, now abbreviated as Halloween, refers to the evening of October 31st, which is the eve of All Saints’ Day (also known as All Hallows’ Day) on November 1st. Hallow derives from the Old English word, hālig, meaning holy or saintly. So, All Hallows’ Eve literally translates to the evening of all saints or saints’ evening.
Pre-Christian Celtic festivals like Samhain (pronounced sow-in), an ancient Gaelic celebration, marked the end of the harvest and the onset of winter around November 1st on the old Celtic calendar. During Samhain, it was believed the boundary between the living world and the spirit world thinned, allowing supernatural beings to roam. The Celts believed on the night of October 31st the spirits of the deceased would return to the world of the living, prompting rituals such as lighting bonfires and wearing animal costumes to ward off evil spirits and prevent possession. The festival was celebrated as the Celtic New Year, with the Druids, the Celtic priests, leading the festivities.
When the Roman Empire conquered the Celtic territories around 43 AD, the Romans introduced their own festivals into the celebration, including Feralia, a commemoration of the dead, and a day honoring Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees, which may have contributed to the tradition of bobbing for apples. (If paying homage to Pomona didn’t precipitate bobbing for apples, all the Irish beer and whiskey the Romans confiscated in their conquest would explain it. It also would explain the spate of drownings that seemed to plague the Roman Empire after 43 AD.) Later, with the spread of Christianity, the Catholic Church sought to replace pagan traditions. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface the Spoilsport established a feast for all martyrs on May 13th, which was later moved to November 1 by Pope Gregory the Calendarian in the 8th century to honor all saints.
The Age of Paranoia
As we became more and more averse to having fun — and as we became more deeply committed to being sensitive about everything — Halloween began to suffer. In the 1970s, political expression began to emerge more prominently in Halloween culture, with presidential masks becoming more common during events like Watergate and anti-Vietnam-war protests. Later, people starting dressing as controversial political figures, sometimes sparking debate or offense. For example, in 2019, The Daily Iowan warned wearing costumes of controversial politicians can be tasteless and a recipe for disaster, especially in social settings involving the alcohol and strong opinions that had been retained from the ancient Gaelic celebrations.
More recently, political correctness and cultural sensitivity shaped school policies, with many schools banning certain costumes to prevent offense. In one instance, schools across the U.S. barred clown costumes during the 2016 creepy clown phenomenon. They’ve increasingly regulated attire deemed culturally insensitive or politically charged. And they’ve completely banned Irish beer and whiskey.
More generally, Halloween became a lens through which political and economic critiques are expressed. Marxist interpretations view monsters like vampires and zombies as metaphors for capitalism, since Karl Marx, who hid under his bed on Halloween, described capital as a vampire that feeds on labor. The zombie, which has its roots in Haitian folklore as a symbol of colonial enslavement, has been repurposed to critique zombie economies, zombie banks, and zombie politicians. And since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President for the second time, people who think the world is coming to an end believe it’s more likely to happen on Halloween.
Originally Published on https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/category/lifecolumns/notes-to-self/
