Mire's Holiday Pages: Halloween Traditions

Last Updated 8/15/2007

"This is Halloween"

A L L O W E E N !
It comes in a close second to Christmas for me. I love putting up decorations, and I always agonize over what I'll dress up as. It's such a shame that many of our children can no longer enjoy the trick-or-treating that so many of us loved in our youth. Now we mostly celebrate at the many festivals and fairs, and indoors with parties.

I figured I'd talk a little about Halloween traditions here. Most know that it was once celebrated as New Year's, but did you know that many of the traditions associated with it were transferred to Christmas? Nordic and Roman influence caused the new year to be moved to Yule (the winter solstice), and since Yule later became Christmas... well, here we are.

The belief that the veil between worlds is thinner on this night of the year was one of those.

Some examples:

Charles Dickens' well known story of A Christmas Carol
It was once believed in a village in Lancashire that if you looked into a churchyard on Christmas Eve, you might see the shades of those who would die in the new year, but among them, you might also see yourself.
The "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria" sequence in Walt Disney's Fantasia, is a depiction of what was believed about the night that was once the biggest pagan festival of the year. It was taught that it was unsafe to be out on All Hallows' Eve until the church bells and the dawn drove away the spirits that would roam the earth.
Another belief was that ghosts would return to the homes of their descendants to revel.

We of course offer treats to all those little "spirits" to keep them from lingering here. :-)

witch

Another tradition that started out at Halloween was wassailing (Here we go a-wassailing...). Drinking to the health and well-being of, originally, the apple trees, which have had their final harvest in October. Wassailing in modern times is drinking to the health of anyone with a spiced punch prepared especially for the holiday.

Apples are one tradition that has stayed part of the Halloween celebration. Caramel or candy apples, and bobbing for apples have been a part of many Halloween parties. Divination using apples was also common on Halloween. Mostly practiced by young ladies wishing to discover the identity of their future spouse.
(read more on Apple Divination, in a new window.)

The pumpkin, the most prevalent of modern Halloween symbols, was an american addition to the holiday, but the jack-o'-lantern may be as much as 2 thousand years old. The first were made in Ireland, and were simple faces carved in turnips which could be easily carried if one needed to travel during the night. They were designed to frighten away evil spirits who were following deceased loved ones and blocking their way into the Land of the Dead, and also to protect the living.

For some holiday recipes using pumpkin and apples, check out my Halloween Recipes page.

And for more sites that discuss Halloween's history, check out my Halloween Links page!

Hope you have a happy and safe Halloween!

2002 Limited Edition Halloween Pixie