The Origins Behind Spooky Season
It’s that time again, folks, when we break out the sweaters, drink way too many fancy fall coffee drinks, and get ready for Halloween. To most of us, Halloween is a time to watch scary movies, maybe visit a pumpkin patch to buy an overpriced pumpkin, and dress up as something or someone else for a day or two. Halloween marks the kick-off of the holiday season and all the fun (or stress) to come. Many of us celebrate these holidays because we grew up with them and remain nostalgic, so it comes naturally to prepare and anticipate these moments in life.
Depending on who you ask, these holidays originated from historical moments, depending on your beliefs and why. I’ll let it all out in the open and say it comes down to religion, big box companies keeping the spirit alive, and a little bit of generalized history to top it off: what I want to focus on and what I believe to be the most interesting, is the fascinating, sometimes macabre, backstories people derive their beliefs from.
Most of us understand how Easter came to be, as well as Christmas, but have you ever actually dug into where Halloween or “All Hallows Eve” came from and when? Yes, I know it may come as a shock that this spooktacular holiday hasn’t always been about dressing up and raiding your neighbor’s candy dish, and I’m about to scrap the surface of the origins of spooky season with the help of some trusty sources from the web. So sit back, put on a Spotify Halloween playlist, and read on.
It all began with the ancient Celtic Samhain festival: to kick things off, it’s always wise to start at the beginning, and the origin of Halloween spawned from religious beliefs. Halloween or “All Hallows Eve” originated from the ancient Celtic Samhain festival. The festival celebrated pagan beliefs, which centralized around the beginning of harvest and the closing of the summer season.
By the 8th century, Pope Gregory III announced November 1st as a day to give remembrance to saints, who translated these beliefs to Christianity. This day also took notes of pagan beliefs, and the evening prior was deemed All Hallows Eve, then Halloween. Moving further, November 2nd is considered All Souls’ Day, technically making this holiday a three-day event often called “Hallowtide.” From what we know, this is the earliest known time when Halloween traditions were celebrated and stemmed from the changing of the seasons, which is more or less something we all nod to still.
Speaking of keeping the tradition alive, if you’re a fan of horror movies, you’ve probably heard once or twice that October 31st is a time when the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest, which allows those who have a spiritual connection to connect with the unliving. From there, people have spun this belief into ghost stories, haunted houses, and more.
Surprisingly enough, the United States didn’t acknowledge Halloween until later in the 19th century, as Irish and Scottish immigrants arrived in America to settle. It was then that the holiday started to gain traction, and by the early 20th century, folks in the U.S. began celebrating nationwide.
Wearing costumes wasn’t just for fun and games: do you remember what you dressed up as a kid? I do, and sometimes I get secondhand embarrassment. But seriously, dressing up as one’s favorite character or role model was all the rage as children and still is today. Many of us never really grew out of that stage of our lives and still get in the spirit and dress up even today. We do it to have fun, connect with those around us, and celebrate this moment in life, but back in the day, dressing up and hiding one’s identity was for different reasons.
To avoid being preyed upon when the veil between the living and the dead was at its weakest, people would dress up in disguises and masks to avoid being noticed. They believed if they did this, they’d be mistaken for a spirit themselves and could carry on with their lives. That thought process is equal amounts terrifying and exciting to me. Imagine walking around in a clown costume, hoping the undead wouldn’t spot you and chase you about; it seems like a good time to me.
Carving pumpkins has a sinfully devious backstory: purchasing a pumpkin and using tools to gut it and create a funny/creepy face on the surface is, without a doubt, one of the most popular traditions leading up to Halloween. We flood pumpkin patches to find the perfect one to bring home, tack a stencil on (we all do it), and get to work. As you’ve probably guessed by now, our ancestors didn’t necessarily start that tradition with the hopes of having a fun night with friends and family.
The transition of carving pumpkins hailed from Ireland, and at first, pumpkins weren’t the object of choice. Instead, folks used turnips because of an old legend that had to do with a man named “Stingy Jack.” Allegedly, this Jack character caught Satan himself, only to let him go IF the red guy promised Jack he wouldn’t drag him to the fiery pits of the underworld. It seemed like Satan held up his end of the bargain, but it turns out the heavens didn’t really want Jack either. With no other options, the poor guy was left to wallow in self-pity and wander the planet forever.
So, how does this have anything to do with carving up fruit and veggies? Well, Mr. S threw Jack a bone and gifted him with two things: a lump of coal and a carved-out turnip to use as a light. The result? To chase evil spirits away, people began carving their own turnips and lighting them up. Eventually, the turnips were so last season, and pumpkins were all the rage.
Trick-or-treating used to be more “soulful” than it is today: ah trick-or-treating – the good ol’ days when our parents told us never to eat candy with an open wrapper and to always watch out for razor blades. Ahem, I mean when kids would gorge themselves sick with Snickers, lollipops, and caramel corn balls from their grandma. Trick-or-treating is seemingly an innocent Halloween tradition and, undoubtedly, the most popular one to date. As we’ve seen, the origins of what surrounds Halloween have been pretty cut and dry so far, but when it comes to collecting candy, things get a bit muddy.
According to one source, an early belief was that folks would go door-to-door asking for “soul cakes.” What are soul cakes, you ask? Well, they’re cousins to the traditional biscuit, and the thought was that the giver would receive prayers for those dead and in limbo. I’m not so sure the exchange was fair, but hey, who am I to judge? This practice stemmed from Scottish and was often called “souling” instead of trick-or-treating.
On a lighter note, another theory argues that the U.S. version of trick-or-treating comes from a German-American Christmas tradition called “belsnickeling.” This involved kids dressing up in costume, calling up their neighbors, and playing a game of “Guess Who” to see if they could figure out who or what the children were dressed up as. If the so-called neighbor failed, the kids were gifted with food and sweet treats.
Halloween parties were community-wide: and they still are! Young kids typically celebrate in some manner at daycare or school with costume contests and candy exchanges, and adults can either be found at a house party or bar-hopping; the entertainment divide is much more apparent these days, but in the 1920s & 30s, Halloween was a community-centric holiday. Cities had parades, and smaller towns had town-wide parties on the streets, but it all came to a standstill due to an outbreak of vandalism.
By the 1950s, community leaders had a better grasp on handling these unfortunate happenings, but the holiday celebration shifted toward the youth, and parties were more reclusive to avoid this ruckus. Today, it’s a mixed bag and everyone of all ages celebrates how they want to.
Halloween on the big screen: another sector of the holidays eventually transgressed to the big screen when filmmakers took an ode to the holiday and created the horror genre. Of course, the genre can be dated back to literature before this time, but no one had experienced horror in video form until the mid-1890s. A few years after the first filmmakers emerged, George Melles created Le Manoir du Diable, translating into English “The Haunted Castle or “The House of the Devil.” The film was only three minutes long, but it features cauldrons, skeletons, ghosts, bats, and finally, the Devil.
Fast-forward to the 19th century, and we’ve come a long way to get to where we are now with holiday-themed movies. The likes of Alfred Hitchcock, George A. Romero, Sam Raimi, and Tim Burton paved the way for what we associate horror and Halloween-esque movies with. Movies such as Psycho, Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and The Nightmare Before Christmas come to mind as just a few films that evoke the spookiness of the season, but they aren’t technically movies that were created for the holiday.
When folks think of the most popular and earliest Halloween film, John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween probably comes to mind. Starring one of the first “final girls” herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, it’s tough to beat the emotion, ambiance, and villain of this holiday classic. Since the original, 12 other prequels, sequels, and beyond have been created, so it goes without saying the franchise stuck with fans.
So there you have it! A beginner’s guide to the origins of Halloween and all that the holiday entails. Of course, there’s so much more to it than I dove into, but I hope when you get to this point, you’re one (if all) of three things: in the holiday spirit, more educated, and influenced to do your own digging to see what more you can uncover. Happy Halloween, everyone, and don’t look under your bed!
