Samhain: The Halloween before there was a Halloween

Discussion of general Halloween topics
Post Reply

This post was

too long, should have been broken into a part I and part II
2
22%
interesting. I want to read more on the history of spooky things!
3
33%
unbelievably boring and stupid. Don't do it again!
0
No votes
cool. I'm leaving a plate of food out for the dead this Halloween!
2
22%
very cool. I'm off to collect the heads of my enemies and show them off to my friends!
2
22%
all lies. My church tells me Halloween is a devil day. You made this all up.
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 9

User avatar
Celtic Ghoul
Master Reaper
Posts: 120
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:08 pm
What is the highest number?: 9
Location: Texas

Samhain: The Halloween before there was a Halloween

Post by Celtic Ghoul » Sat Aug 12, 2006 11:19 am

Not too long ago, Hauntmaster gave us a tour of the history of Halloween in this thread: About Halloween. It inspired me to write about the really ancient history of Halloween.

Samhain: The Halloween before there was a Halloween
Image
The Gundestrup cauldron; made of silver sometime during the 1st century BCE. It is speculated that the gilt images around its edges tell a mythological tale and depict various Celtic deities. Picture from University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Halloween has been with humankind in one form or another since long before recorded history. Some 3,100 years ago the Celts emerged from the bronze age Urnfield culture. The Celts were an agricultural and pastoral culture, depending on their crops and livestock to survive (how pastoral you ask? So pastoral that the greatest surviving Irish Celtic epic tale is called The Cattle Raid of Cooley :roll:). Like all people who depend upon crops for food, the Celts celebrated the harvest. So long before there was a Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve or All Saints Eve there was a harvest festival called Samhain (pronounced "SAW-win" or "SAW-vane") celebrated by the Celtic tribes of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Britain and continental Europe.

Image

The Celts divided their year into two parts: the dark half of the year, when days were short and cold; and the light half of the year when the long sunny days warmed the land. This division reflected what mattered most to the Celts: when the crops would grow and their herds could graze and when they needed to rely on the stored crops for the people and their livestock to survive. Each Celtic month started on the full moon and continued through the lunar cycle. They also started their day at dusk and would end their day the following dusk. All of this happened before anybody was taking notes, heck, before they even had writing.

ImagePhoto: Dave Etheridge-Barnes/Getty Images

Samhain was the last of the harvest festivals and in the Celtic calendar, the first day of winter and probably the start of the Celtic New Year. Not a one day holiday either, the event lasted six full days.

Why such a big deal? Remember, back then winter was no joking matter – during winter everything stops growing. Your food production stopped, your herds went hungry, if you did not store enough food for the winter you would starve; if your stored food became spoiled you’d probably get food poisoning and then starve. Without enough wood for the winter fires, you would likely freeze to death. And even if all of those things went right, some of the tribe’s youngest children and older members would likely die from ordinary winter colds and flu. So Samhain was the last big party before the very tough months ahead.

Image Image
ImageImage
Celtic torcs and serving flagons, the last image is a detail of one of the flagons.

How did they party 3,000 years ago? Much the same way we do today. The very wealthy – royalty, nobles, druids, warlords – would have imported wine served to them from fancy decanters and poured into cups of bronze, silver and gold. Feasting on lamb, beef and pork, leeks and cabbage, cheese and bread, the Celtic lords and ladies ate with the aid of roasting forks. They would wear their finest linen and woolen clothes and the women would wear fine torcs made from gold and silver with beautiful cloaks clasped with fancy brooches around their necks. Lyres, harps drums and pipes would provide the music they danced to. And at some point in the festivities the Druids and the Nobles would meet like a parliament and make laws.

Image Image
Modern reconstruction of Celtic dwelling and traditional oatcakes which are still eaten throughout England to this day.

Those who were not so wealthy would still have celebrated grandly. Doubtless they consumed tremendous quantities of mead and the thin bitter beer brewed at that time. There would have been less meat for them, but the pork stew came hot from the iron cauldron hanging over an open fire and oat cakes would round off the meal. Nor would they lack for music for music and dance are genetically bred into the Celts along with a love of strong drink. The people would gather around a central village bonfire to sing, dance, drink and play. All other fires would be extinguished. Each family would then light the family hearth with a fire taken from the communal bonfire – a tradition that bound the village together.

The Supernatural Aspect of Samhain

Image

But the living were not the only ones present, the dead also joined the party. The Celtic religions held that on Samhain Eve (remember, the evening was the start of the Celtic day) the wall between this world and the spirit world was thinnest. This was the day when the dead walked the earth. However, these dead did not want to eat brains; they were coming for the party and the custom was to leave food and drink out for them. After all, the Celts believed that the visiting dead were their friends and family – wouldn’t you leave something nice for your beloved who had passed on? Besides, if you did not leave something for them, perhaps the dead would resent you and who wants dead people trying to harm you or cast a spell on you?

That wall between our world and the spirit world operated like a two way door in Celtic mythology. Many of the myths revolve around unnatural happenings at the time of Samhain. Frequently they relate how the hero leaves this world during Samhain, has some kind of adventure in the otherworld, maybe with the sidhe or faery folk before returning to this world… if they are lucky enough to return.

In a less dramatic fashion than disappearing into the spirit world, the ancient Celts used the thinning of the veil between life and death to interact with spirits. Samhain was considered an ideal time for fortunetelling and divination because of the nearness of the spirits. Since the Celts greatly revered their ancestors, it is likely that contacting their departed relatives was a common activity. So, ever since the beginning Samhain/Halloween has been associated with the supernatural.

How the Traditions of Samhain were (mostly) lost
You’ll notice I did not have a ton of details for you about Samhain. Many of the details surrounding this holiday, and indeed all of Celtic culture, have been lost. For example, we do not know what Gods were honored on Samhain, though doubtless some of them were, maybe Beli, Manawydan, Danu, Lugh or Arawn – nobody knows. The same that we don’t know much about the Druids, have an unclear picture of women’s role in Celtic society and have lost some of their artistic skills. What happened to this diverse, vibrant culture that had flourished in Europe from the end of the Bronze Age well into the Iron Age?

Simply put, the Romans and the Christians happened.

The Celts were an oral culture without a written language. Very little of the spoken history of the Celts was ever recorded. Almost everything we know about the Celts comes from histories written by the Greeks, the Romans and much later the Christian monks in Ireland and Scotland. But the lack of written history could have been remedied had the Celtic culture survived the coming of the Romans.

Image
Hand forged Celtic sword made by pattern welding, much as the Celts likely would have done their forging. This one was made by Patrick Barta of TEMPL Forge.

True, the Romans had reason to regard the Celts as foes; as early as 390BCE Celts invaded Rome and occupied the city for a couple of months. They left after forcing the Romans to pay them handsomely in gold. But the Celts were a tribal culture without a central organizing force. The Romans, on the other hand, organized a very powerful, disciplined professional army and put that army to use expanding their empire. Julius Caesar more or less crushed the Celts when he crossed Europe and attacked England. The Caesars who came after him expanded and strengthened Roman domination over Europe. In the process, they forced the Celts to assimilate a large number of Roman customs, destroyed tribal structures and enslaved many thousand Celts.

Image
This picture pretty closely represents the last thing many Celtic warriors would have seen before dying. © 2000 - Dreamworks LLC & Universal Pictures - All Rights Reserved

Perhaps the last stand for the Celtic religion came on the isle of Ynes Mon (known today as Anglesey) off the north coast of Wales. Ynes Mon functioned as both a holy land with sacred groves of trees and as a school where the Druids trained their those wishing to become Druids in their lore. Under Roman general Suetonius Paullinus, the Romans conquered the isle in 60 CE, slaughtered the druids and destroyed the sacred groves. If you have seen Gladiator, that first battle scene between the Romans and the Germans sums up the wars between the Celts and the Romans pretty well; the Romans destroyed the Celts. Only Ireland remained untouched.

The Effect of Christianity
At about this time, an energetic young religion called Christianity started spreading rapidly through Europe to Ireland and Britain. One of the things the Christians did was to eliminate or replace all the Pagan Celtic holidays with Christian ones: Yule became Christmas, Imbolc became Candlemas, Beltane became May Day, Oimlec became Easter and so on and so forth (I should note – before the Christians came there really weren’t any good shopping holidays :wink:).

The assimilation of Samhain came when Pope Gregory III (731–741) designated November 1 as All Saints, for celebration "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world". This was intended to supplant the old Pagan holiday while still keeping the theme of reverence for those who have passed on. The eve of All Saint’s day became known as All Hallow’s Eve, hallows meaning holy. From there it the language evolved over the centuries until the name became Hallowe’en and then Halloween:!:

Image

Despite all of these changes, all of the supernatural connotations about Samhain/Halloween remained. In fact, as the Christian churches tried to surpress the Pagan celebrations these aspects of Samhain/Halloween became scarier and spookier as the elements of they Christian belief system were woven into the holiday. Thus, we see the devil becoming linked to the holiday, something some Christians still believe to be true. :roll:

Before we leave the Christians, it would be completely unfair not to mention that if the monks of Ireland, Scotland and Wales had not written down the ancient oral tales and myths, our knowledge of the Celts would be even less than it is. So kudos and a warm Guiness to the monks! :)

Modern Samhain

Image
An enthusiastic Scottish lass celebrates Beltaine, another ancient Celtic holiday. Taken from The Scots Independent.

Samhain itself is still celebrated in parts of Ireland, Scotland and Wales although it is more of a cultural and historical event than a holiday. Those same countries have actually imported some of our Halloween customs!

Samhain is celebrated as a religious holiday by NeoPagans, Wiccans and Witches.

Samhain is the Wiccan New Year and Wiccans celebrate it by performing rituals in memory of their ancestors. Commonly food is left out for the spirits of ancestors. It is a time for fellowship, celebration and also a time for meditation on the passing of a year and what is to come in the new year ahead. Contrary to rumor Wiccans do not do human or animal sacrifice.

I will leave it here, the subject of modern Paganism is a long, complex post in itself.

Spooky Samhain/Celtic Trivia
  • Some sources say that Samhain was the Celtic God of the Dead (for instance, in Halloween II the psychiatrist tells the sheriff that after they find the word Samhain written in blood on a wall). That is not true.
  • The Celts had some pretty spooky habits of their own, such as collecting heads… as Greek Historian Diodorus Siculus (c. 90 BCE– c. 30 BCE) recorded:
    They cut of the heads of enemies slain in battle and attach them to the necks of their horses. The blood-stained spoils they hand over to their attendants and carry off as booty, while striking up a paean and singing a song of victory; and they nail up these first fruits upon their houses... They embalm in cedar oil the heads of the most distinguished enemies, and preserve them carefully in a chest, and display them with pride to strangers…. :shock:
    Diodorus Siculus was very, very careful not to offend any of his Celtic hosts.
    Image
    A Celtic warrior, painted blue with woad, readies his sword to claim a grisly prize. This is from this German website which indicates, near as I can translate, the are historical reenactors who tried to recreate a Celtic village based on actual grave goods dug up by archeologists.
  • Neither the Druids, nor the Celts had anything to do with Stonehenge which was built a thousand years before they came along.
  • Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War claimed that the Celts would on special holidays stuff giant wickerworks statues full of men (criminals) and the wickerworks would be set afire and the people inside burned alive as a part of sacrifice to the gods. Some historians dispute the accuracy of this, noting that Caesar was writing about an enemy he was at war with; he had a vested interest in slandering them. However, Caesar was not the only commentator to claim the Celts did this!

Resources and Further Reading:
Halloween
Wikipedia: Halloween
History of Halloween

Samhain
Beliefnet: The Witches' New Year
You Call It Halloween, We call it Samhain
Wikipedia: Samhain

All Saint’s
Wikipedia: All Saints

Article on Celts and Human Sacrifice with lots of cool pictures of Celtic Art
Celtic Sacrifice

Where you can read the original Celtic myths online
Internet Sacred Text Archive: Celtic Folklore
While friends and loved ones mourn your silly grave, I have other uses for you, darling. ~ I love the Dead, Alice Cooper

User avatar
tantraman
Halloween Master
Posts: 1126
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:17 am
What is the highest number?: 10992
Location: Austin Texas
Contact:

Post by tantraman » Sun Aug 13, 2006 5:44 pm

wow that is very informative I liked the dances.
happy happy halloween silver shamrock.

Image
Please check out our new horror movie blog check our the first post on our new horror movie blog https://horrormoviehallofflames.wordpress.com/

User avatar
BlackCat
Haunt Master
Posts: 336
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:31 pm

Post by BlackCat » Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:17 pm

I liked that history lesson. I always thought the history of halloween was very fascinating. My father being Scottish, used to tell us so many wonderful celtic stories when we were kids. Thanks so much for posting that! It brings back great memories.

User avatar
skullychick
Vampire
Posts: 44
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:35 pm
What is the highest number?: 9
Location: Sleepy Hollow
Contact:

Post by skullychick » Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:41 am

i think its great to see other people are boning up on their Halloween 101 info, this IS the coolest holiday EVER, so we should know it's history too right?
When there's no more room in Hell,thedeadwill walk the Earth.

User avatar
skullychick
Vampire
Posts: 44
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:35 pm
What is the highest number?: 9
Location: Sleepy Hollow
Contact:

Post by skullychick » Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:42 am

i think its great to see other people are boning up on their Halloween 101 info, this IS the coolest holiday EVER, so we should know it's history too right?
When there's no more room in Hell,thedeadwill walk the Earth.

Post Reply