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Halloween and the Origins of Trick-or-Treating
I can’t seem to find a source that gives me one origin for the whole “trick-or-treating” thing, but I found a bunch of different traditions that I think are awesome. All over Western Europe people played tricks, thought the spirits played tricks, and went around asking for gifts (sometimes in costume and sometimes not). Celts offered treats to avoid spirits playing tricks and Druids asked for favours in return for protection of the soul. By far, my favourite ancient custom is the Irish or English version of “soul-caking”. You can get the recipe here: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/recipes/view.cfm?id=1378. Essentially, “soulers” went around and sang their songs without stopping or having much tonal variation…
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Halloween, Light, and Dark
According to a man quoted all over the internet on this topic, Rowan Moonstone, which I can only assume is a pen name, the Druids help “fire festivals,” days where all of the hearths went dark and then were lit again by holy light, essentially, the dark half of the year and renewal. You can see his explanations for things here, though I can’t really vouch for his accuracy as none of his sources seem to be primary sources, though, in fairness, those would be hard to find as the ancient Celts were a people with a strong oral tradition, not a strong written one: http://www.featherlessbiped.com/halloween/rowan.htm I don’t know if…
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Halloween or What’s in a Name?
People have told me that they have issues with Halloween due to it’s name. They feel that “Harvest Festival” is more Christian. I disagree. So, here is a little background on the name. Around the eighth century A.D., Christians declared that 1 November was All Saints Day, the day to honour all the saints and martyrs who didn’t have a specific day set aside for them. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (found here: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01315a.htm) Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel at St. Peter’s Basilica for all the saints, the Blessed Virgin, and all the martyrs, while Gregory IV spread the 1 November celebration to the whole Catholic Church. I know…