As the days grow darker and cooler, the leaves change to their vibrant hues of red, orange and yellow and slowly drift to the ground, every school aged child knows Halloween is right around the corner. Carving pumpkins, donning costumes, spooky stories and trick-or-treating are all welcome revelry as the frantic pace of summer slows into Fall. We take these traditions for granted each year, benefiting from the metamorphosis of an ancient Celtic holiday from some 2000 years ago.
The significance of October 31st dates to the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain celebrated by the Gaelic peoples who lived in what is now Ireland, the UK and northern France. Being the midpoint between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice it marked the end of summer harvest and the beginning of the dark cold winter. This signaled the time of the celtic New Year which was celebrated the evening of October 31st into November 1st.
It was believed that the veil was thinnest at this time as the lines between summer bounty and the stark cold bareness of winter blurred and faded. The ancient Celts believed that on the night of October 31st ghosts of loved ones could return to Earth or that fairies could wreak havoc on next year’s crop!
Thus began the traditions of starting bonfires – and later carving turnips or potatoes lit aglow with embers to ward off the fae and welcome the ghosts of loved ones. It is indeed from the darkness of night and the orange glow of those ancient fires that we have the first origins of the association of black and orange for Halloween. Sorry pumpkins, you came much later for carving and color. Another association of Halloween and orange is through the changing of the leaves.
Which leads us to the most beloved tradition of all; trick or treating! The traditional costumes of the Celts of animal heads and hides – a far cry from the Marvel and Disney costumes we know today – were used as a way to fool malicious ghosts or evil spirits. They would often dance in costume around the bonfires set at Samhain. The more modern American child-centric version we know today didn’t come about until the 1800’s when flocks of immigrants came to the U.S. during the potato famine and brought their traditions with them to create the more child-centric version of Halloween we love today.