Jen´s Research and Letter to Nancy (the fundy aunt)

by Jen Hörst

This is a letter Jen wrote to her fundy aunt in the states, they had a little tissy about the origins of halloween, and whether or not is is satanic.

Nancy,



You probably won't believe this, but after talking to you I decided to 



research the history of Halloween.  I’m going to tell you my findings.  If 



you choose to not read this, fine.  I feel better at least having tried to 



let you know the TRUE origins of this holiday which you think is satanic. 



    The first evidence of a Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or Samhain begins 



back long before the rise of the Roman Empire and the birth of Christ.  



Historical estimates place this holiday at about the year 4000 BCE.  It began 



as the tribal peoples of this time split the year in half the only way they 



knew how, by season.  In the spring around May Day, the people celebrated 



Beltane.  This is the light half of the year.  The sun has warmed the earth 



and given birth to vegetation.  The domestic animals are sent out to pasture. 



 The second part of the year is when the people brought their animals out of 



the fields and began preparing for the earth’s sleep. 



    Much of our Halloween tradition began in the Celtic mythos.  The Celts 



are believed to be a very ancient race and the first of the large-scale 



migrants who dispersed in separate waves into Europe at about 2300 BCE.  In 



approximately 350 BCE, the Celtic invasion introduced a new cultural strain 



to Ireland and Britain.  The Celts are a sub-family of the Indo-European 



family.  They are pastoral, meaning that they raise animals.  They have a 



religion which includes a harvest festival.  This festival lasts for three 



days.  This holiday is the Celtic New Year.  Samhain is a Celtic festival 



where they celebrate the dead and divine for the future.   



    The word Samhain has been misunderstood.  There is no evidence 



(archeological or literary) which points to Samhain being linked to a Celtic 



or Druid god named Samhain.  The Irish didn’t have a lord of the dead in 



their belief system.  The Scottish-Gaelic dictionary tells us that Samhain 



means “summer’s end.” 



    Keep in mind that the Celts also didn’t have what we would think of as a 



Heaven.  The concept of demons and devils is a modern one, and not part of 



the Celtic religion.  They did believe in fairy folk, whom they thought were 



resentful of human kind for overtaking their land and forcing the fairies to 



inhabit the in-between land.  Some of these fairies were said to roam the 



countryside and creating mischief.   



    Now we stop by ancient Rome.  The Romans also had a harvest festival 



called Pomona, celebrated on November 1.  Pomona was the goddess of the 



orchards and harvest.  The Romans introduced this festival to the Celtic 



people.  Since it was similar to Samhain, the Celts didn’t have much trouble 



blending the two 



holidays.   



    Around 200 years later (314 CE), Constantine the Great declared the Roman 



Empire a Christian one, closing the door on the Celtic religion.  In Europe, 



the Romans systematically murdered the Druid priests and priestesses, seeing 



them as a stumbling block to the Roman order of things.   



    By the fourth and fifth centuries, Celtic Christianity came into Ireland. 



 At first the Pagan peoples openly welcomed Christianity (as they welcomed 



the beliefs of other people), but as Christianity filtered into the Celtic 



system, the church officials had a few problems.  Mainly that the Celts 



didn’t want to give up their holiday or folk practices.  So the Christian 



leaders tried to change the holidays.  Germanic Yule became Christmas 



(December 25th is actually the birthday of the Pagan god Mithra, a solar 



deity, in fact the Christmas tree, Yule log, and many other traditions linked 



to this holiday are really of Pagan origin...perhaps they are “satanic” too 



Nancy.  Maybe you should throw out that satanic Christmas tree.), Celtic 



Oimelc or Ostara to Easter (yup, that’s right, the Easter Bunny and hiding 



eggs is a celebration of the Pagan fertility goddess Ostara) and Samhain into 



All Hallows Eve. 



    To make the Pagans follow this new religion, the clergy of the day taught 



the peasants that the fairies were really demons and devils (remember this 



was a concept totally unknown to them prior to this) and that the dead that 



they loved and remembered on this day were horrid ghosts and ghouls.  The 



early Christians erroneously associated the Celtic land of the dead with the 



Christian concept of hell.  Here is where the evil enters into Halloween.   



    The Celts don’t believe in a being that is the cause of all evil.  They 



believe that there is good and bad in all things, including people.  The 



origins of Satan being associated with Halloween are strictly the early 



Christians doing. 



    So as you can see.  There are many different influences on what we see as 



Halloween today.  It really is merely a harvest festival.  It is a time to 



remember those loved ones who have passed and to celebrate the fruitful 



harvest.  It is also the time to prepare for the coming winter.  We light the 



fires and dance and laugh.  In the original holiday there were no demons, 



monsters, devils, ghosts, etc.  In the current 



day Wiccan tradition, Halloween is the time to have what is called a “dumb 



supper.”  This is where you set the table for your guests and include place 



settings for your loved ones who have passed on.  It is traditional to 



prepare some favorite dishes of your dead friends and loved ones.  During 



this dinner no one is to speak.  



Everyone just eats and honors the dead.   



    From my research, the tradition of getting dressed up began in early 



America during the Victorian age.  During this time people would have 



masquerade balls.  They also would use this time of year for match making.  



So as time went on, Halloween was associated more with the young than with 



the married.  There 



is a myth out there that people dressed up to “hide” from those who had died 



in fear that the dead would find them and hurt them or haunt them.  To the 



contrary, the early Celts believed that the departed loved ones would help 



them.  And that in helping them, the dead would get “brownie points” in the 



next life.   



    I have further resources on where the Jack-o-lantern came from and other 



things, but I think you get the idea.  Perhaps when someone tells you 



something you could actually research it, rather than just take one groups 



opinion of it.  I find that Halloween is a joyous and frolicking time of 



year.  My most favorite time of year.  We can get dressed up as someone we 



are not, play games and socialize with those that we love.  Sure there are 



people out there who are ignorant who use it as some kind of evil holiday, 



but they are the minority...and remember that conversation we had about 



judging a whole thing over what the few do.  If I was to do that, I would 



think that Christians are all hypocrites, which I know is not true...but 



there are 



some out there.  I just choose to not judge the WHOLE of Christianity on a 



few people.  As should you. 



 



 



 



 



 



                            Jen