Halloween!

On October 31^st some communities are celebrating the festive of Halloween. Although celebrations take place mostly in English speaking countries or in places with strong North American influence, It is believed that its origin comes from the British Isles, having its roots in old Celtic traditions. 

According to http://www.etymonline.com/ the online Etymology dictionary, the word Halloween, has its origin in Scotland, being the Scottish term for All Hallow Even, the name of the Eve of All Saints day the last day of October. The word “Eve” in Scotland is Even and is contracted as “e’en” or “een”.

Many ancient Celtic celebrations have their prints in Modern Halloween, but it is generally believe that we should look for its roots in an Irish celebration called “Samhain”.

In http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/samhain.shtml it is written that Samhain is a celebration marking the end of the Harvest season. It is related with the Celtic New Year. Samhain is also believed to be a celebration of the end of the summer. According to http://www.livinglanguage.com The prefix “Sam” means “Summer”. Today the Irish word for summer is “samhradh”. The Night of Halloween is also known in Irish as “oíche samhna” and is the time when the veils between this world and the other world were believed to be at their thinnest allowing the spirits of the dead to mingle with the living.  The “Púca” (Ghosts) and the “bean sí” (Irish word that came to English as “Banshee” describing a fairy woman who appears to announce a death) were thought to haunt dark roads and graveyards during this celebration.

 To celebrate Samhain, the Druids built sacred bonfires. With this fire, after the festive, they lit the fires in their homes to help protect their homes. The Celts wore costumes made with animal skins and share a big communal dinner.  Special foods from the Irish tradition are “cál ceannann”, known also as Colcannon, a dish made with Mashed potatoes and Cabbage, and “báirín breac”, also known as Barmbrack, a sweet bread made with dried fruits.

In Wales, on November 1^st they celebrate “Calan Gaeaf” that is the first day of Winter. “Gaeaf” is the welsh word for winter. According to the page http://louespiritucelta.blogspot.ca/2010/11/nos-calan-gaeaf.html The Night before is called “Nos Calan Gaeaf”, also known as “Ysbrid Nos” or “Night of the Spirits”. Tradition recommends to avoid cemeteries and crossroads, preferred places for spirits to gather.  Some welsh traditions for this night are: “Coelcerth” (Bonfire), “Twco Fale” (Apple Bobbing) or docking (in Welsh “Docio”) an apple (Afal). Some traditions warn about the legend of “Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta” or the tail-less black sow, that roams the countryside with a headless woman.

In Cornwall, SW of England, on October 31^st they celebrate a festive called “Allantide”, in Cornish: “Nos Calan Gwaf”. According to https://cornishculture.co.uk/ there are some traditions common with the rest of Celtic people, as celebrating the end of summer and the fact that the veil between this world and the spiritual world was most thin. It is also disputed if Cornish celebrated New Year in this festive during Pre-Christian times. One of the best kept traditions related with this festive is the Use of Allan apples, for apple docking, as a gift or even for predictions. Other tradition is associated with the light of “Tindle Fires”.

In the Isle of Man, on oct 31^st they celebrate “Hop-Tu-Naa”, the celebration of the Celtic New Year or “Oie Houney”.  According to the page in Internet http://www.isleofman.com/attractions/arts-culture/ceremonies-and-festivals/hop-tu-naa/ the origin of this name comes from the Gaelic Manx expression “Shogh ta’n Oie” that means: “This is the Night!”. Most of their traditions are very similar to what we see today in Halloween.

In the French Brittany, they have also a celtic celebration during the days of Halloween. It is called “Noz Kalan Goañv”. I did not find much information about this festive, but I read about customs of pouring milk in the graves and children wearing fancy dress.

Halloween is one of the greatest gifts that Celts have given to humankind, a festive that for different reasons, not all of them truly dependent on Celts themselves, have become more popular in very remote locations, many of them not at all related with this ancient European culture. I personally consider unfortunate that we do not have enough sources written in Celtic languages explaining the meaning of this special period from today´s October 31^st to November 1^st. Most of the sources regarding this festive are in English and written by outsiders. In other hand, I heard different comments about Halloween in different areas and by different people. Most of them are made by people who do not really understand the meaning of this festive and are not really interested to do so.

This week, on October 31^st, I had the opportunity to see the community of my area celebrating Halloween during my way back home. It was nice to see Children walking with their parents, visiting their neighbours early in the night asking for their sweets while wearing Costumes. Not all the homes were participating, but everybody knew that homes with Jack-o-lanterns were the ones to be visited. During my way, I could hear families who were speaking Spanish and Chinese. The neighbourhood has a lot of families of Portuguese and Italian origin so I would expect that those languages were used that night alongside with English. I see this as a rare opportunity for the community to integrate and join efforts to make their children happy while neighbours interact, no matter their origin. For immigrants it was an opportunity to meet their neighbours and integrate. Many cultures in the past used their celebrations to socialize and to have a moment to enjoy the best of life with family, friends and Neighbours. Was this the real origin of Halloween? Or was a way to remind their people that whenever there is darkness, they must follow the light? Now we can teach this to our children, or Maybe, in Halloween, we can teach our children that light can dissipate any darkness.