some Halloween customs
The Church has observed January 1 as the beginning of its year since
the 16th century [1500's], and it has been the legal beginning of the year
since the reform of the Calendar in 1751. Oct. 31 was the eve of the new
year in both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times, and had long been one of the
ancient fire festivals.
Its genuine importance was indicated by such serious ceremonies as
official renewal of laws and land tenures, with vestiges in the form of
legal customs that survive to this day. Rituals of extinguishing and rekindling
a new fire for the coming year still exist, but have been moved to other
holy days. Funerary practices and various folk rituals and official religious
divinations were done at this special time, and this was the only day of
the year in post-Christian times when the Devil was invoked for assistance
in such matters. This was a good time for such actions to be done in association
with the dead, who are already privy to the Knowledge of the Otherworld,
and whose souls were supposed to revisit their homes on this day. Until
recently, a custom was still in practice to leave the fire lighting services
and go to bed early on All Souls' Night, so the family rooms would be left
to the dead ancestors who would congregate there.
Study of folklore, to become really comprehensive, is an ongoing project
that will absorb lifetimes -- generations. The burden of treasure there
is well worth the work ... but I am not the scholar and this is not the
page to attempt to present a full listing here. However, traditions attending
the year's turning are many, and most interesting. Being based so often
on concerns of ancient pastoral cultures, they include rituals like the
harvesting of the last sheaf of corn or the last head of wheat from the
fields that year, and this might be venerated and even decorated and paraded,
or enshrined. In some traditions, it might be entrusted to a family of
the community for safe keeping into the new year, and they would receive
some honour and some responsibility along with this task. It seems clear
enough that such rituals were designed to carry forth some of the past
success and meaning, and encourage a continuity of human values, through
the years.
Masquerades took place in some traditions, that were originally more
serious than our costume parties, likely being ritual role-playing for
the sake of the meaning of the rites of the season. I heard another version
of this on MPR radio at the Halloween season of 1995, telling that the
principle male god would make some Judgments on this day regarding which
animals the dead would be assigned to exist as for the next year. It was
offered as a reason for a Mardi Gras kind of festival based on animal images,
and for the animal costumes seen at Trick or Treat. (I have not yet seen
any literary notes about this from myth or legend or lore.) Also in that
MPR report, it was said that the Trick or Treat tradition involving candy
seems to be uniquely American. (However, many door-to-door wassailing rituals
for special days are familiar and common, with apropos variations for their
seasons, as are customs involving door-to-door collections or progressive
feasts, and candy is an element of the Mardi Gras traditions as well as
a filling for Piñatas.)
In another tradition of the Isles, apples and a sixpence were placed
in a tub of water. Whoever succeeded in extracting either with their mouth
but not using their teeth, or in spearing one of the apples with a fork,
was destined for a lucky year. Most of the many British Isles traditions
regarding divination at Halloween involving the sacred symbol of the apple
(source of the name for Avalon itself) have by now devolved into games
for children. In the north of England, Halloween came to be observed merely
as "mischief night", marked by idle pranks.
Immigrants to America introduced secular Halloween customs that became
popular by the late 19th century (1800’s). Mischief-making on this occasion
by boys and young men took such forms as overturning sheds and out houses
and breaking windows, and damage to property was sometimes severe. Note
that even today, in Detroit, "Hell Night" is celebrated with
random arson, and the toll in damage to the city has been so great that
attempts are being made to reduce or stop this little custom. Just the
last year or two ago, there was a major hue and cry about the record-breaking,
dangerous and costly damage done. It is unfortunate that even given the
blessings claimed to be heaped upon those who live in America, one of the
costs is the rapid loss of ethnic heritage and family history, and one
of the results is this kind of unthinking self-entertainment via senseless
destruction.
A rather new custom I just heard of in 1996 was reported on TV at mid
day of November 1st, among college students (at UCLA?), concerning how
to use the pumpkin AFTER Halloween … they pushed a pumpkin weighing 300
lbs. with decorations and stuffing of candies, off the top of the largest
campus building, resulting in a truly impressive pumpkin/candy splash.
Those who don’t mind the mess wade around in the remains and collect the
candy. Here is a curious combination of candy, Piñata, and Jack-o'-lantern
-- and pumpkin flavoured mud rassling! -- as a final ritual for good luck,
on the first day of Winter.
A decorative custom of our area is to stuff some old clothes with fallen
leaves and form a dummy, which is posed -- often with a large pumpkin --
prominently in the front of some family homes -- or hanged from a tree
in their yard! I once saw a reference to a venerable custom this must be
based upon, but it hasn’t been entered in my notes yet. If anyone can help
me find that tidbit – especially its name (or any other interesting material)
please do send it.
[ gregour
e-mail ]
© 1997 Gregour Beatty