When the Roman Catholic Church spread its influence north through Europe, it encountered ancient and well-loved religious beliefs. Rather than outlaw them, which the Church learned early wouldn't work, the Church absorbed ancient beliefs, changed some names and trappings, and adapted them to the Church year. Hence, All Hallow's Eve is the name applied to the evening of October 31. The Christian feast Hallowmas, Allhallows, or All Saints' Day happens on November 1.

Grand Ma ? ?

Halloween celebrations were probably begun among the ancient Druids. Druids were sort of the Ivy League of the Celts; they were the lawyers, doctors and priests of their people. These people believed that on the evening of Samhain, the filmy veil between living and dead was at its thinnest. We could contact them, and they us. Druids' ancestors could walk the earth.

Ok, this explains , graves, , etc.

Some say it was these ancestors' annual chance to try to cohabitate in the bodies of the living. We all have family members we don't want to share the dinner table with, let alone a body.

Druids lit bonfires on Halloween. Some say it was apparently for the purpose of warding off all these spirits. Others say it was to light these souls' way back to the world of the Dead, so they wouldn't get stuck in our world the following day, and hang out in the front yard for a year, scaring the chickens and such. I think they lit fires because they did a lot of the celebrating outdoors, at night, in Northern Europe, at a cold time of the year, before battery-operated hunting socks. But what do I know?

We've covered fire, , lights, etc.

For the ancient Celts, Halloween was New Year's Eve. We have our resolutions; the Celts thought it was a great night to try to tell the future. The Celts also believed that the spirits of the dead revisited their earthly homes on that evening. So, if Grandma is hovering around the house anyway, why not ask her if she can see what's going to happen this year?

Ok, the and and other fortune-telling aspects are checked off.

The Romans invaded Europe way before Christianity. They held a harvest festival on November 1 in honor of Pomona, wood nymph of the fruits of trees (like apples, one of the last, fresh fruits of the season.) This is where apple-bobbing comes from: laughing at a half-drowned companion who is soaking wet on a cold night. Another nasty trick is hanging an apple from a string, with a lit candle in the apple, for the poor suckers to try to catch in their mouths. Romans thought humiliating and torturing people was great entertainment. I suspect "The Three Stooges" are directly descended from Roman perceptions of humor.
Hence, torture by .

Now, on to Jack o' Lanterns. Jack is a trickster, like Anansi the Spider in some African traditions, or Coyote among some Native Americans. The Cherokee had the Rabbit. In fact, the story of the Tar Baby exists in some form in European, Cherokee and African folk tales.

Jack's kind of a doofus; he's a braggart and a dreamer, but doesn't seem to have any common sense. He sells a cow for magic beans, etc. Everybody who sees what Jack does thinks he's a real loser, but he always beats the Giant or the bad guy or the Sheriff or...... and comes back with the Goose that lays the Golden Egg or something equally kewl. He's just an ordinary guy, pestered by thorn patches, IRS agents, car title loan ripoffs. We love him because, deep in our hearts, we know he's us, but always with a happy ending.

"...Jack put the piece of coal into a turnip and it became known as a Jack O'Lantern. On All Hallows Eve if you look, you can still see Jack's flame burning dimly as he searches for a home. You might be asking yourself, "Hmmm, that was an interesting story, Mr. Web Page guy but where do the pumpkins fit into this?" Well I will tell you my friendly Net surfer. The use of Jack O'Lanterns as festival lights for Halloween is a custom that descended from the Irish who used carved out turnips or beets as lanterns. On Halloween, these lights represented the souls of the dead or goblins freed from the dead. When the Irish emigrated to America they could not find many turnips to carve into Jack O'Lanterns but they did find an abundance of pumpkins. Pumpkins seemed to be a suitable substitute for the turnips and pumpkins have been an essential part of Halloween celebrations ever since."
LOL! From: Jack O' Lantern

seem to be the one topic that makes people nervous. It's a simple and innocent thing, really. The word, witch, seems to come from old European words for stuff like: flexible, wise, holy. All the negative stuff seems to have come much later. Remember, there were lots of religions in Europe before Christianity. In fact, until some people got first nervous, next hysterical and finally ruthless, Christians and others practiced their faiths side-by-side in peace.

Witches were healers, fortune-tellers, keepers of old knowledge, herbal pharmacists, therapists, midwives, undertakers. Yes, quite a few were old women; women tend to live longer than men. Please try to remember: people in those days were considered "old" if they made it to fifty. There weren't many universities; there were no public libraries (no common person could even read.) If you made it to fifty, could remember important facts about your culture and its history and customs and knew how to use those skills to help others in the community, you were all that.

Our hatred and fear of witches seems to have been a total propaganda campaign, started by some insecure guys in this now-growing business of the church. Now, publishing is a ruthless business, especially in a time when almost every book was copied by hand and most people couldn't read. Marketing must have been a real nightmare. These insecure guys found an ideal solution, and wrote it right into their book: anybody who didn't believe in the existence of evil witchcraft and consorting with the devil must be a heretic and quite possibly also a witch. A few, brave souls argued against the witch hunts. Most rational minds in the church didn't believe in such nonsense, but quickly learned to keep their mouths shut and go along with the mobs who sought someone to blame for their miseries. And the mobs were very miserable.

It all happened at exactly the same time as plagues scoured Europe. Angry, ignorant people sought someone to blame for the "evil" of the plague. Their first targets to punish were the Jews who had been living peacefully among them for centuries. People didn't know fleas on rats were spreading the diseases through bites. These were times when people thought regular bathing would make one sick, when human and other wastes were dumped out of windows into open ditches in the streets. The people were poisoning themselves, but didn't know it.

I can imagine: a villager goes to the local priest, "Father, my family is dying of some mysterious disease." All the priest can do is offer prayers, instruct the congregant to do the same and admonish the person against sin. So, the congregant goes to the local Wise Woman, who instructs washing, herbal poultices, smudging with incenses, etc. That might, in the case of some diseases, actually help. The priest might get jealous. And, if it doesn't help, the villager blames the Wise Woman and accuses her of putting a "spell" on his family.

Either way, the woman who tried to help is in trouble. She must be evil. She must be hanging out with the devil. She must be destroyed.

Pretty soon, women and men were being kidnapped, tortured and killed in many European countries. If they have any property, it is taken to "pay for" their "trials." If a person had a mental, developmental, psychiatric or physical disability; speech impediment; epilepsy; disfigurement that person was an easy target for the witch hunts. If anybody became the subject of gossip, resentment, jealousy, he or she could easily be tried as a witch. To try to lessen his or her torture, he or she might name "other" witches.

was a symbol of power and wisdom, like the sorcerer's cap. The cone-shape was thought to funnel wisdom from above into the wearer. Since the witch hunts, conical hats are now "dunce" caps.

The was said to be a "familiar" of the witch: superstitious people believed a witch could put her soul into the body of an animal
( wolf, , owl, , any animal that roams at night or prefers dark and hidden places) and send it out to do her "dirty work" for her. The color black was associated with evil by the church. The fact is probably more like: here we have an old widow. Her husband and children are dead or gone. She lives alone. She has a cat to keep down the vermin (which is probably why she doesn't get the plague.) She has no one to talk to except the cat. Someone overhears her as they pass by and thinks she's crazy. That person gossips about the widow and the cat. Someone comes up with the brilliant conclusion that the widow is giving the cat secret instructions.....poor old woman; poor cat (cats were burned at the stake, too.)

The witch's broom ought to be easy to figure out by now. Here's an old widow, probably disabled, living alone, surrounded by gossips. She doesn't go out much and tries to avoid confrontations with others. But she has to go out once in a while to sweep in front of her house. Maybe she does this at night, when fewer people are out. Someone sees her with the broom.......... poor old woman. And now, to further confuse things, here is the sex, drugs but no rock 'n' roll version for the grown ups.

The is a big iron or clay pot. It sits on the open hearth. In it, the old woman boils her laundry, cooks her soup, cooks herbal medicines. The cauldron is about as evil as washing machines, crock pots and medicine chests.

is an old tradition. Remember our buddies, the Celts and how they believed the dead walked among the living on Samhain night? They believed the dead liked sugar (which probably explains why they were up all night.) Whole dishes of foods were set aside during the celebrations, just for the dead to eat. Feeding dead people is really hard work, as they don't seem to digest and can't pick things up. Well, an answer was found. The "dead" would temporarily inhabit the bodies of the "poor" that night. Then, as now, most of the poor were children. Costumes were worn so that the living wouldn't get confused and think Little Jimmy and Janie were going door to door, mooching hand-outs (see related article, this issue, Tricked Out Treats.. The special foods of the dead were given out in this manner. To this day, in England, children go cakin' and adults try to guess if the little souls are real children or spirits.
So, put on your and get busy!

Thanks to the following
for research material

Idiot's Guide To Celtic History "Remember, history was written by the victors."

Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies,Sponsored by Georgetown University

Vampire Disposal Methods: I like boiling the head in sugar, myself.

Clerks Witch Project: horrifying, if true.

My Virtual Jack O' Lantern! Carve one yourself!

Haunted House: don't click, just keep hitting your right cursor arrow. If it doesn't animate, switch users and come back in to this. Worth the work!
Haunted House, Light

Some clip art from

Some more clip art and sounds from All4Free

Still more sounds --and wonderful clip art-- from

Happy

><:8~~ Rogi ~~8:><
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