Halloween: The Origins of Celtic Samhain
Jul 4th, 2009 by Benedict Fisher
Many people associate Halloween with pagan rituals. But the truth is that it’s not pagan. Some historians from the West would say this is true, and that Halloween came from All Hallow Even, the day before All Saint’s Day. All Saint’s Day usually happens on the first day of November.
The Nature of Halloween
For many people around the world, Halloween is a time of remembering the souls in Purgatory. These souls are those caught between Heaven and Hell, and undergo rigorous cleansing before being granted entry to Heaven.
In the books of the famous Dante Alighieri, souls in Purgatorio are neither in Inferno nor Paradiso, which is consistent with the accepted notion of Purgatory. Modern interpretation of these books put All Hallow Even as the day before All Soul’s Day (which is on November 2nd).
Samhain
Some scholars think that Halloween has its older roots in the Roman celebration of the Pomona, which is linked to the Roman goddess of harvest. Another Roman celebration that may have something to do with how Halloween is celebrated is the Parentilia. The Parentilia is a celebration of the dead.
When it comes to Halloween’s Celtic origins, scholars suggest that the Samhain celebration started everything. This celebration took place at the end of summer, and was paired with the feast of Beltane — a celebration of life.
As you can already see, even the Celtic cultural tradition builds upon binaries, like Chinese medicine or Indian Ayurvedic tradition. There must be balance, so both the forces of death and life have to be in balance. Where there is balance of life and death energies, there is life. With imbalance, there is disease and famine.
Why the Samhain?
The Samhain was actually an acknowledgement of the two opposing forces of life and death. Summer was usually the season when people tilled the Earth, planting and harvesting food. But when winter came along, man gave way to the powers of Nature, and submitted to the ice, wind, and cold.
Halloween’s Bad Reputation
During the past several decades, Halloween went through a period of bad reputation. Owing to the fact that it’s not 100% Christian, parents and school officials wanted it banned from all school activity.
While it’s improbable that the ancient Celts were really worshipping the Christian Lucifer, the fallen angel himself, the original rituals of Samhain are not really that palatable to modern sensibilities.
Documents And Other Bizarre Modern Interpretations
Movies such as “Halloween” play on the Samhain as a central pillar of the plot. They suggested that the Samhain opened the possibility for a person to oppose the powers of life and death. Even if this was a rather farfetched idea, it still managed to affect modern sensibilities — of course, in a largely negative way.
More ironically, there are very few extant records of how the Druids really carried about their ritualistic festivities. Only a known personage, Pliny the Elder was able to provide a hint. However, there were no humans being sacrificed on a pointed stick. Rather, two white bulls were used, in a ceremony that appeared to be a run-the-mill offering for better fertility.
