SERVICES

Tuesday October 25, 2006

Double Double, Toil And Trouble

John Mooney Examines The Celtic Origins Of Halloween

While St. Patrick's Day is the observance most closely associated with the Irish, fewer people realize that Halloween might just be the quintessential Irish American celebration.

Its origins are based on the festival of the dead called Samhain (pronounced "sow-ween"), the most important day on the Celtic calendar. November 1st marks the day that the sun crosses the celestial equator and the beginning of the new year.

It also commenced the harvest of crops for storage during the winter months and the return of animal herds from their summer pastures. Samhain was a celebration preceding the long winter months when food supplies ran low.

The Celts also believed that Samhain was the time of the year when the ghosts of the dead revisited the living before heading to Tir na nOg, the land of eternal youth and happiness. The Celts sacrificed animals, fruits, and vegetables to the spirits.

They also lit bonfires both to honor the dead - and to prevent them from frightening the living. People took to disguising themselves to confuse the spirits who had evil intentions and placed bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts.

Classic Costumes

Dracula - Irish author Bram Stoker wrote his famous vampire novel in 1897 after spending seven years researching European folklore and stories of vampires. The title character is believed to have been based on "Vlad the Impaler," a 15th century Romanian prince. (The word dracul means serpent or demon in the Romanian language.) The iconic visualization of Dracula will always be Bela Lugosi, whose 1931 film interpretation became a horror classic. When he died, the actor was buried in his Dracula cape.

Frankenstein - English author Mary Shelley first published Frankenstein in 1818. Frankenstein actually refers to the man who created the monster by sewing together body parts and infusing the creation with electricity. Boris Karloff brought the monster to life in Universal Pictures 1931 film directed by James Whale. It instantly became a horror classic and was followed by the equally well-received sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), considered by some critics as a superior movie. Karloff reprised the role one more time in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and retired the character on film. Other famous interpretations include Peter Boyle in the Mel Brooks' comedy Young Frankenstein and Fred Gwynne, who played Herman Munster in the beloved 1960s black-and-white sitcom The Munsters.

Werewolf - The werewolf or "wolf man" is a person who transforms into a wolf after being placed under a curse. The transformation coincides with the appearance of the full moon. A werewolf can only be killed if shot by a silver bullet. Lon Chaney, Jr. portrayed Larry Talbot in the 1941 classic film The Wolf Man, in which Talbot beats to death a wolf that attacks a beautiful woman. In the struggle, Talbot is bitten by the wolf that seals his destiny. Many European countries and cultures have stories of werewolves, including Germany (Werwolf), France (loup-garou), Greece (lycanthropos), Spain (hombre lobo), Romania (vârcolac), England and Scotland (werewolf), and Ireland (faoladh or conriocht).

Witch - Witches historically are thought to have magical powers to cast spells and may be of either gender, although male witches are sometimes referred to as warlocks. In Christian countries, witches have negative or evil connotations. The Wicked Witch of the West played by Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz (1939) has scared generations of children. In the 1960's, the beautiful Elizabeth Montgomery was a much more positive character married to a bumbling mortal in the classic sitcom Bewitched. In the late 1990s, Sabrina The Teenage Witch about a half witch/half mortal teen became a hit among young viewers first on ABC and later on the WB network.

Mummy - Mummies are preserved bodies of the dead, most closely associated with the ancient Egyptians, although other cultures followed the practice. The Egyptians removed major organs, embalmed the bodies, and wrapped the mummies in white linen and canvas to prepare the dead for the afterlife. During the 20th century, horror films, including the Universal Pictures classic The Mummy (1932), starring horror film king Boris Karloff, popularized the notion of a curse associated with mummies. Belief in a mummy's curse stems, in part, from the supposed curse on the tomb of Tutankhamun ("King Tut").

Ghost - A ghost (phantom or spook) is the spirit or soul of a person who has died and haunts a place of emotional significance to that person when he/she was living. Ghosts are spirits believed to be unable to find rest after death and thus continue to linger on Earth. The inability to find rest is often explained as unfinished business, such as a victim seeking justice or revenge after death. The "typical" ghost is semi-transparent and appears to walk through walls and float above the ground. Famous ghosts include Hamlet's father in Shakespeare's great play, Patrick Swayze in the 1990 film Ghost, and cartoon characters Casper the Friendly Ghost and Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom, a current favorite.

As St. Patrick and later missionaries spread Christianity across Ireland, they encouraged the converts to give up their pagan holidays such as Samhain. Pope Gregory I issued an edict to his missionaries that rather than making pagan worshippers renounce their practices totally, they should allow the native observances to be incorporated into Christianity. Church holy days were purposely set to coincide with native observances. For instance, Christmas, which is never identified in the bible as Dec. 25, was assigned the date to correspond with the winter solstice celebrations.

Although missionaries let converts hold onto some traditions, they branded the pagan deities and spirits as evil. Pope Boniface IV established All Saints' Day to replace the pagan festival of the dead. Gregory III later moved the holiday from May 13th to November 1st to honor saints, martyrs and all the dead who did not have a day named in their honor. Thus, Oct. 31 became All Hallows' Eve ('hallow' means 'saint') - a fusion of pagan practices and Christian tradition.

Trick-or-Treat

When the spirits of the dead wandered among the living at Samhain, they tried to return to their former homes. They were offered fruits of the harvest in hopes that the ghosts would be satisfied and refrain from destroying flocks and property. This custom evolved into a "Mischief Night" in which humans played pranks and formed the basis of "trick-or-treating." As the Irish flocked to America as a result of the potato famine, they brought their traditions with them, including Oidche Shamhna ("Night of Samhain").

The custom of trick-or-treating also traces back to a practice called "souling" in which beggars went from village to village asking for "soul cakes"(square pieces of bread with currants). The more soul cakes the beggars received, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. Common belief at the time was that the dead remained in limbo for a period after death, and that prayer would guarantee a soul's passage to heaven.

Jack-o-lantern

In Ireland, turnips were often carved as representations of the souls of the dead, since it was believed that spirits encountered things equally fiendish looking, they would flee in terror. So how did the pumpkin become the basis for a lantern named Jack? Folklore said that an Irish blacksmith named Jack made pact with the Devil and was thus denied entrance into Heaven. Doomed to wander the Earth in darkness, Jack carved a lantern out of a turnip to light his way. When the Irish came to America, they found pumpkins in greater abundance than turnips. Thus, the big orange gourds became the source of the Jack-o-lantern, and they have become an essential part of Halloween celebrations ever since.

The Ancient B's of Halloween

The bat became a symbol of Halloween because people believed the fierce looking nocturnal animals communicated with the spirits of the dead at night. Black cats were believed to be witches in disguise. While the tradition of bobbing for apples harkens back to the Roman celebration of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and harvest. Bobbing for apples in a bucket of water provided good luck to those fortunate enough to take a bite of the fruit.

By the turn of the 20th century, Halloween became increasingly secular and became more about neighborly get-togethers, than about restless ghosts and witchcraft. Parties for children focused on games, foods of the season, and festive, rather than frightening, costumes. Communities increasingly embraced the tradition of giving children small treats. Trick-or-treating boomed in the post-WWII era, in part driven by the marketing practices of candy companies.

While early masquerades were ghoulish, today's popular options for children include costumes representing princesses, cartoon characters, and sports figures. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Americans spend an estimated more than $5 billion annually on Halloween, making it the nation's second largest commercial holiday. The top costumes this season are princesses, pirates, witches, Spider-man, and Superman.

"This year pirate costumes are popular among consumers of all ages, due largely to the widespread success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise," said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch.

"When it comes to dressing for Halloween, traditional costumes never go out of style," said Tracy Mullin, NRF President and CEO. "In order to please consumers of all ages, retailers have begun stocking their shelves with a wide variety of costumes, from classic favorites to pop-culture icons."

Adults are increasingly getting into the act as beer companies and manufacturers of snack foods (chips, pretzels, etc.) have helped position Halloween as one of the biggest party days of the year. In fact, it is third largest party occasion behind Christmas and New Years. The NRF estimates that 2/3 of the population will celebrate Halloween in some way. Front yards in suburbia frequently are decorated with giant, inflatable jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and Frankenstein monsters, as well as other elaborate displays.

Halloween does have detractors. Some Christian groups are vocal in their condemnation of Halloween as an observance of evil, rather than an evening of innocent childish fun. They site to vandalism and increasingly ghoulishly decorated homes as examples of demonic influence invading our lives. The website www.basicChristian.org posts that "Christians everywhere are rejecting Halloween's message of Death, Disobedience, and Despair and are instead using the opportunity to proclaim the Truth about God's Love for Mankind."

Support of Halloween can be found in unlikely corners, too, such as the Kabbalah web site www.newthoughtkabbalah.com, which suggests "lightening up" and applauds honoring the dead. "Halloween is a celebration of legacy... This allows us to celebrate LIFE. Lichaim."

Enjoy a safe and Happy Halloween, perhaps the most Celtic of all the holidays celebrated in America.