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Halloween-A Druids Perspective

'Halloween, a night most people dedicate to candy, tricks, and parties. A night filled with frightening images such as Ghost, Goblins, and hundreds of little George W. Bushes, but where did it all come from, and what does it all mean to me as a modern Druid?

First of all what most people think of as Halloween has little to do with the actual holy day called Samhain (pronounced "sav-uin," which loosely translated means "end of summer”).

Samhain has been celebrated in one form or another for well over 2000 years, and has many traditional aspects. One of these aspects is as the Celtic New Year. As such it is one of the fire festivals, and one of the times of year that it is believed that the “veils” between the worlds are the thinnest and the easiest to pass. One manifestation of this is the belief that the spirits of our ancestors can visit us on this night. Another is that the Sidhe (or Fae,) can cross the veils at this time and either help or harm us (Some believe that the Sidhe are actually the spirits of our long past ancestors.) In fact the Halloween tradition of Jack-o''-lanterns came from the Irish tradition of hollowing out turnips to make a lantern, the light of which was believed to guide the spirits of the ancestors home.

Thus one way to look at Samhain is as a type of spiritual family reunion.
It is a time of rejoicing with ones family and ancestors, of paying respect to those who paved the way for us, and giving our thanks to the gods and ancestors for the blessings of the past year.

You might ask, “How did this sacred festival become the secular celebration that it is today?”

Ironically many of the customs associated with Halloween, a holiday reviled by many Christian churches, originated with Christianity. The origin of the secular Halloween festival lies in the early Middle Ages when the Catholic Church adopted Nov. 1 as All Saints Day, also call All Hallows Day, in an effort to convert the many Pagans by having a festival to “replace” Samhain, (Hallow meaning hallowed or holy), and the night before as All Hallows Eve. Eventually this became shortened into Halloween.

There are many stories about how mask and disguises became part of this tradition. One of the most popular is the false belief that the Celtic people would wear disguise themselves in order to either hide from the spirits or scare them away. Of course considering that the only ones still celebrating Samhain were Pagans who had to conceal their identities from the church or risk being killed, this is a much more likely reason for the disguises origin. Since the church people already expected to see spirits, it made sense to disguise ones self as a spirit.

Another tradition that traces its origin to the Catholic Church is Trick or Treating. It originated in a tradition called “Souling”. In the ninth century, Christian beggars would go from door to door begging for soul cakes in return for a prayer for the family. People who refused to donate a soul cake would be threatened and cursed. In Ireland this turned into the modern concept of “Trick or Treating”, and the Irish brought this custom with them in the 1800s.

So, what does all this mean to me as a modern Druid?

It means that the way I celebrate is different from my ancestors, but still honors them. Samhain is a time of celebration, but it is also a time of worship and introspection. A time to look at your life over the last year and give thanks for the many blessings and give thanks for them, as well as examining the lessons that we have learned. It is a time when the veil is the thinnest, when past and future meet, and all worlds are accessible.