October is here, but when it comes to October 31st, the name has many variations, for example Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, Hallowmas Eve and All Hallow’s Fire. Being a huge advocate for the spooky holiday, it was only mandatory that I was in possession of Halloween history books and other material. A lot of the information gathered in regards to the history of Samhain is taken from The History of America’s Darkest Holiday by David J. Skal and Vintage Halloween Reader by The Better Days Books company and it is the most interesting material I have ever read – history can be made fun to learn after all. To make this easier to read, it’s been broken up into Did you know? sections.
Did you know?
The word Halloween derives from the middle English word Hallowen meaning hollow or sacred. Then there came the contraction of the last letters in Halloween from evening to even to e’en. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Hallowe’en came up in 1785 in a sentence of ‘The night is Hallowe’en, the morn is Hallowday’.
Did you know?
The belief in Ireland during Samhain was that for the rest of the year the evil powers lived in a cave of Cruachan in Connacht; the hell-gate of Ireland. This cave was unlocked on November’s Eve to let out spirits and copper-coloured birds which killed farm animals. These spirits stole babies and left in their place changelings who were old in wickedness and possessed superhuman cunning and skill in music, but the only way to rid these demon children was to ill-treat them so their own kind would come to get them and leave the right ones back.
Did you know?
Our modern word of bonfire comes from the words bone and fire meaning fire of bones which is why animal bones were tossed in. The sacred fires were believed to keep evil spirits away which is why people stayed close to the fire and wore animal heads and skins as a form of disguise. When the fires died, it was considered good luck to take home an ember to relight in your hearth. On the following day, the ashes were spread over the fields as protection against spirits who would cause the next season’s crops to fail.
Did you know?
Samhain was a Celtic tradition. On the Eve of Samhain, people would go from house to house asking for food offerings and kindling for fires. The following day of Samhain, it being November 1st, hearths were extinguished and larger fires were lit on hilltops in honour to make offerings to the gods.
Did you know?
Nuts like apples are symbols of the harvest and are plentiful at the end of October. One should not be surprised if they find an apple in their bag while doing their rounds of trick ‘r treating. Apples were also a medium for divination; by sitting at a mirror and slicing an apple into nine pieces, one could see their future lover in the mirror behind them over their shoulder. That also linked in with apple-bobbing which has its roots in fortune-telling.
