The Celtic Origins of Halloween
Introduction
Today we associate Halloween with dressing up in costumes, trick-or-treating and carving pumpkins. It’s one of the most popular holidays celebrated across the globe, especially in Britain and America, but some criticise the way that Halloween has been commercialised, arguing that we have lost sight of its traditional origins. Many people today are indeed unaware that Halloween derives from the ancient Irish Celtic festival Samhain, but modern-day practices on this holiday are not as far from its ancient ones as we might imagine.
Samhain’s Background
Samhain, pronounced sow-in, is a pagan festival which was celebrated by the Celts across three days at the midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, when it was believed that the barrier between the real world and the Otherworld was bridged, and the spirits of the dead could roam the earth. Its name derives from Old Irish, meaning summer’s end, therefore signifying a transition from the end of the harvest into the darkness of winter. The Celtic year was split into two halves, summer and winter, so Samhain represented a celebration of the new year. Though celebrated in other Celtic regions, such as Scotland and Wales, Samhain is primarily associated with Ireland, where archaeologists have discovered Neolithic passage tombs, such as the Mound of the Hostages, the entrance of which aligns with the sunrise on Samhain. Later on around the 9th century, Samhain became more Christianised as it started to be associated with All Saints’ Day, which is observed on November 1st. The day before this became known as All Hallows’ Eve, with hallow meaning saint, which is where we get the name Halloween from.
Traditional Rituals
In a time of uncertainty and vulnerability in the face of a cold and unforgiving winter, druids would light large bonfires filled with the bones of animal sacrifices as an offering to the gods. From these, people carried torches back to their hearths to bring light into the new year and to ward off the supernatural. This protection extended to leaving offerings in fields for fairies, and wearing masks made from animal skins and heads as a disguise against evil spirits, a practice not unlike our own custom of dressing up today. During Samhain, the Celts also held a Dumb Supper, similar to the Mexican Day of the Dead, where they would leave doors and windows open for deceased relatives to eat cakes and update them on the past year’s news.
Mythological Connections
Samhain is tightly interwoven with Celtic mythology, especially that of Ireland and Wales. In the Irish text of legends, the Book of Dun Cow, Togail Bruidne Dá Derga, otherwise known as ‘Da Derga’s Hostel’, is a haunting tale, which takes place during Samhain. It tells of the death of the High King Conaire Mór, who travelled to Da Derga’s hostel after breaking one of his geasa, which were similar to curses. A broken geas often resulted in death. Da Derga’s hostel was part of the Otherworld of Irish mythology, and it was there that Conaire Mór met Da Derga, whose name translates to ‘red god’, with red being representative of the Otherworld. This is a significant setting as it reflects the pagan Celtic belief that the door between the real world and the Otherworld was opened during Samhain. This liminality is reflected in Da Derga’s appearance: she was a goddess of death disguised as an old woman, with long black legs and a knee-length beard, wearing a noose around her neck and a striped cloak. Her mouth sat at the side of her head as she told prophecies while standing on one foot. In the tale of Conaire Mór’s defeat, she arrived at the hostel following sunset, a time of transformation. Following her arrival, Conaire Mór was beheaded for breaking his geas.
Other Celtic mythological spirits to be feared on Samhain, or Calan Gaeaf in Wales, were the Welsh Hwch Ddu Gwta (‘Tailless Black Sow’) and Y Ladi Wen (‘The White Lady’). The latter was a headless woman dressed in white who was thought to chase people on Calan Gaeaf while accompanied by Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta. The following rhyme demonstrates this superstition:
“Hwch Ddu Gwta a Ladi Wen heb ddim pen,
Hwch Ddu Gwta a gipio’r ola.“
“The black sow and headless white lady
Will try and catch the last to leave.”
In addition to these figures, the Celts feared the presence of the Dullahan from Irish mythology during Samhain. He too was headless, and was thought to ride a flame-eyed horse while carrying his head. Considering the notoriety of these bizarre yet terrifying figures in ancient Celtic belief, it is not hard to understand why Halloween is associated with all things dark and supernatural.
The Christianisation of Samhain
As Samhain became more Christianised and came to be known as Halloween, British people began to develop customs more similar to our own on this holiday, such as carving turnips, and not pumpkins. This practice dates back to the 19th century, when people carved frightening faces into turnips to ward off the figure of “Stingy Jack”. In an Irish folktale, Jack was a man who tricked the Devil and was consequently banned from Heaven and Hell upon his death, meaning that he was doomed to wander the earth aimlessly forever. Sympathetic, the Devil gave Jack an ember of coal to light his lantern and guide him through the dark. It is this tale from which the name jack-o’-lantern is derived.
Conclusion
Overall, our fascination with the supernatural and sinister on Halloween today, whether it be through ghost stories, scary costumes or horror films, is the legacy of the pagan beliefs of the ancient Celts. Their fear of outlandish spirits and the cold of the winter, along with their bonfires, mask-wearing and pumpkin-carving are echoed on Halloween centuries later. While the Celts may seem like distant and foreign people from history, our sharing of some of their Samhain practices and the survival of the holiday’s ominous associations proves that we are not so different from them as we may sometimes think. After all, the Celts, like us, were humans enthralled by the dark and mysterious.
Written by Seren Davies-Jones.
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Images
Foster, Anthony. “The Mound of Hostages”. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons, 2011.
Jones, Margaret. I Dylluan. https://blog.library.wales/margaret-jones/.
Manon, Elin. Samhain. 2022. https://www.instagram.com/p/CkYWOwHLhew/?next=%2Frenatheh%2F&hl=af.
National Museum of Ireland. “Ghost Turnip”. Photograph. https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Top-things-to-see-in-the-Irish Folklife-Collection/Artefact/Ghost-turnip/b202e8ea-0728-4b3d-b0f1-82660fe45ce9.