Myths & Legends of Halloween

History traces Halloween back to the ancient religion the Celtics in Ireland. The Celtic people were very conscious the spiritual world and had their own ideas of how they could gain access to it - such as by helping their over 300 gods defeat their enemies in battle, by imitating the gods in showing cleverness and cunning. Their two main feasts were Beltane the beginning of summer (May

and Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) at the end of the summer (November 1.) They believed Samhain was a time when the division between the two worlds became very thin, when hostile, supernatural forces were active, and ghosts and spirits were free to wander as they wished. "During this interval the normal order of the universe suspended, the barriers between the natural and the supernatural are temporarily removed, the sidhe lies open and all divine beings and the spirits of the dead move freely among men and interfere sometimes violently, their affairs." - Celtic Mythology.

The Celtic priests who carried out the rituals in the open air were called Druids, members pagan orders in Britain, Ireland and Gaul. They generally performed their rituals by offering sacrifices, usually of crops and small animals, in order to placate the gods, ensuring that the sun would return after the inter and frighten away the evil spirits. To the Celts, the bonfire represented the sun and was used to aid the Druid in his fight with dark powers. The term bonfire comes from the word "bone fire" literally meaning the bones of sacrificed animals were piled in a field with timber and set ablaze. All fires except those of the Druids were extinguished on Samhain and householders were levied a fee to re-light their holy fire which burned at their altars.

During the Festival of Samhain, fires would be lit which would burn all through the winter and sacrifices would be offered to the gods on the fires. The practice of human sacrifice was stopped around 1600, and an effigy was sometimes burned instead. When Christianity spread to parts of Europe, instead of trying to abolish these pagan customs, people tried to introduce ideas which reflected a more Christian world view.

Halloween has since become a confused mixture of practices from pagan cultures and Christian tradition. Several traditions from the Romans also came into play, such as "bobbing for apples."

Some trace the origin of present day "Trick or Treat" to Samhain, which was the supreme night of demonic jubilee. It was believed that spirits of the dead would rise and wander the countryside, trying to frightened the villagers. The frightened villagers tried to appease these wandering souls with the tradition of placing plates of the finest foods on their doorsteps as gifts. Hoping this would make the spirits happy, and not destroy their flocks or crops. Another superstition was that these souls, whether nice or not, could wander among the living one night a year. The tradition of dressing up or masquerading as one of them would hopefully confuse the spirits and the villagers would be protected. This is how the original Halloween masquerading as imps, devils, ogres and other demonic creatures came into light.

Others trace Trick or Treat to a European custom called "souling". Beggars would go from village to village begging for "soul cakes" made from a square piece of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they promised to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At that time it was believed that the dead remained in limbo, and that prayers, even by a stranger would guarantee a soul's passage into heaven.

In many parts of Britain and Ireland this night used to be known as "Mischief Night" which meant that people were free to go around the village playing pranks and getting into any kind of mischief without fear of being punished. Needless to say, traditions have been carried from different countries and followed the immigrates to America.