Halloween: The Origins of Celtic Samhain

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Saturday, July 4th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

by Benedict Fisher

Most people may think Halloween began as a pagan ritual, but it’s actually not. According to Western historians, it’s actually an abbreviated version of All Hallow Even, or the eve of All Saint’s Day. This Christian holiday takes place on November 1st, which puts Halloween on October 31st.

What’s Halloween For You?

For many people around the world, Halloween is a time of remembering the souls in Purgatory. These souls are those caught between Heaven and Hell, and undergo rigorous cleansing before being granted entry to Heaven.

In the books of the famous Dante Alighieri, souls in Purgatorio are neither in Inferno nor Paradiso, which is consistent with the accepted notion of Purgatory. Modern interpretation of these books put All Hallow Even as the day before All Soul’s Day (which is on November 2nd).

Samhain Origins

Some scholars think that Halloween has its older roots in the Roman celebration of the Pomona, which is linked to the Roman goddess of harvest. Another Roman celebration that may have something to do with how Halloween is celebrated is the Parentilia. The Parentilia is a celebration of the dead.

As for the Celtic origin of Halloween, researchers point to Samhain or Samuin (sow-an), which is carried out when the summer days finally end. The celebration of Samhain is often paired with another celebration known as the feast of Beltane. The feast of Beltane is a celebration of the powers of life.

It can be clearly seen that even Celtic tradition is founded on binaries, much like Indian Ayurvedic tradition and Chinese medicine. There exists a balance between life and death that needs to be maintained. Life exists when everything is in balance, while imbalance breeds famine and disease.

More about the Samhain

Why did the Celts celebrate Samhain? The summer months were usually the months when people gathered food; during the winter months, the food becomes scarce and the forces of Nature become more dominant. This was when humans bowed down to the superior force of the seasons, wind, ice and the unbearable cold.

Halloween’s Bad Reputation

In the past decades, there has been a negative reaction to the celebration of Halloween. Because the celebration is not completely Christian, many parents and school administrators think that the celebration should be banned completely in schools.

Even if it isn’t likely that the Celts really did worship the fallen Christian angel Lucifer, it changes little — Samhain rituals are just plain strange in this day and age.

Records & strange, modern depictions

In movies like those that feature the character Michael Myers (the Halloween series of movies), the Samhain was used as a central category that encompassed how a person can sacrifice to oppose the forces of life and death. The ritualistic ceremonies that the main character espoused built an image of the Samhain that stank of ‘evil’ in the most modern (yet ironically, comic) sense.

It’s ironic that there are actually very few records about how Druids really did carry out their rituals. Only Pliny the Elder provided a good look into the rituals, but even his writings didn’t contain any records of humans being sacrificed on pointed sticks. Instead, the Druids used two white bulls — a rather ordinary offering for fertility.

About the Author:

Costume Finder is a leading supplier of Halloween fancy dress costumes including Zombie Costumes, Vampire Costumes, and Devil Costumes.

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