Words and Art: Kinga Kusyk (she/her)
Across the calendar year, we do many things without a second thought. We blow out the candles on our cakes, carve up the turkeys, and clink our common glasses as the clock strikes midnight. We down our drinks and open another bottle from the Christmas stash without really thinking ‘why?’. Yet, tradition comes from somewhere… It didn’t appear like presents under the tree. Like all of our strange celebrations, a deeper meaning hides meekly behind the night of the 31st of October. So let’s take a deep dive into how Halloween began and transformed into what we know it to be today.
A version of Halloween permeates all crevices of the globe. From Ognissanti in Italy, Día de los Muertos in Mexico, to Zaduszki in Poland, we find echoes of the earliest celebrations of Samhain in Ireland considered to be the precursor of Halloween. So, what am I getting at here? The same date marks our universal calendar – we all started in the same place. This means that Halloween is a holiday based on so many similarities, and yet so many differences. Samhain is old – like 2,000 years old. The holiday established itself before Celts arrived in Ireland and spread through Pagan cultures in Scotland, originally marking the end of harvest, the death of the old year, the death of summer, and thus our first brave step into winter.
Celtic mythology and Gaelic folktales suggested that the veil between the living and dead thinned on this day; souls of dead kin wandered home, awaiting a set table. The smells of their favourite meals blanched the kitchen walls. This superstition is still observed across Slavic households, who on this day leave a window open and a meal cooling, waiting for the arrival of a guest. Items such as combs and towels were also offered in hospitality. A common theme of kind offerings – spot the similarity yet? To this day, this tradition is as much the same as trick or treating – welcoming travelling souls knocking door to door, collecting fruit, coins and nuts. Instead, we now share Cadbury and Haribo.
Those who observed Samhain came together for a gaudy night of grand gatherings, feastings, and bonfires. In the ominous, flickering light of fiery flame, grotesque masks bewildered the vengeful spirits who emerged from the fabled Neolithic passage tombs at Slieve na Calliagh. Monsters and faeries alike rose from their subterranean realms, poised to wreak havoc. Now, Tinkerbell walks amongst clowns and Count Dracula on Sauchiehall Street.
Fast forward to European “Christianisation” of the Pagan festival in the 9th Century, and the endorsement of the 1st of November by the Church, founding All Saints Eve, All Soul’s Day, and All Hallows Day. The story of Halloween has only just begun. Zaduszki in Poland demands that entire cemeteries glow yellow, warming faces with candlelight as the country visits the well-kept graves of their loved ones. Yet in recent years, Polish children too find themselves reaching for a costume, shifting the dynamics of this holiday. Can we blame people for coming together in all these differences? Must we get approval from Mother Superior for every act to be considered righteous? Perhaps it is time to climb down from the moral pedestal and advocate for a game of bobbing for apples. Folk customs and rituals aside, this sense of gathering satiates the need for community. The reason why is all the same – it’s the how that differs.
America: land of the free, home of the tackiest Halloween decorations. Death and haunting continue to define the day. Halloween originally surged in popularity amidst the Spanish Flu Pandemic, as the death toll amalgamated a total over 675,000. Death amounted to a collective grief, giving rise to spiritualism; seance offered a portal between the living and the dead by linking a chain of hands. Possession became connection. Witchcraft became a ritual. The dead were no longer feared, for they were our parents, brothers, sisters, and grandparents. Makes you think twice when you’re ordering a witch hat off Amazon, or when you see stacks of gravestones illuminated by LED lights.
image from the Book of Hallowe’en (1919)
Migration allowed the celebratory customs of holidays to travel between borders. As people traversed across the seams of our little planet and packed up their bags, their suitcase not only held clothes and materialistic goods, but also ferreted away stories and culture.
Packing List:
Socks and storiesCardigans and culture
Folklore and frocksRituals and rucksacksTradition and trousers
Halloween, packed tightly among loose socks and frayed underwear, became misshapen as it snuck through customs and border checks. In hand luggage held heritage.
No longer a day of mourning, ritual, or sacrifice, Halloween became a day saturated by intense alcohol consumption, with a healthy side of chocolate and sweets – the British rudimentary cornerstones of a proper Halloween celebration. What does this stark contrast say about UK culture? Are we incapable of the complexity that the holiday requires? Are we that superficial?
Is the chocolate-chomping, alcohol-guzzling, golden-marketing-opportunity modern interpretation of these celebrations completely different, or completely the same? Halloween has become unrecognisable from where it started. Yet, as we find ourselves with Sharpie markers applying stencils onto pumpkin flesh, we forget that many before us similarly gutted turnips or sliced a smile onto a squash.
The underlying source of all culture is the same – people living on earth, under the sun, or moon, in this case. So despite the ways in which we celebrate, the ‘why?’ remains the same. 2,000 years in the making. History shows that as long as we come together, a holiday’s purpose is satisfied. Year in, year out, as we blow out the candles on our cake. For however long the globe keeps spinning, Halloween will keep developing with us. So, remember the neolithic caves and the flu-festered hospitals, remember candlelit graveyards, and the story of humanity transcending borders – never failing to come together.
