Mists of Time: Ancient Beliefs That Shaped Halloween

As the nights draw in and the leaves turn from green to gold, the 31st October marks the transition from autumn to winter, and of course, Halloween. Today, it’s full of eerie delight, with children in costumes trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, and having all sorts of frightful fun, but what’s the story behind this spooky celebration?

Beyond the sweets, apple bobbing, and creepy costumes lies a history that stretches back thousands of years. Here are the ancient beliefs that shaped Halloween.

Why is Halloween called Halloween? The name originates from the Scottish term for All Hallows’ Eve, which is the evening before All Saints’ Day (also known as All Hallows’ Day or the Feast of All Saints) – a time in the Christian calendar dedicated to honouring saints and martyrs. This period was believed to be a sacred time when the boundary between the living and the dead thinned.

In Scotland, the word for “evening” is “even,” often shortened to “e’en” or “een.” Therefore, “All Hallows’ E’en” eventually became “Hallowe’en,” and later evolved into the more common spelling, “Halloween.”

Yet the roots of Halloween delve even deeper into the past, drawing from a convergence of ancient traditions and festivals that celebrated the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.

The ancient Celtic people lived throughout Europe for thousands of years. By the sixth century BC they had migrated to much of what we now call the UK and came to dominate almost all of Great Britain and Ireland, living here in the Iron Age, during the Roman occupation, and in the post-Roman era.

The Celtic presence in Britain continued well beyond the Roman conquest, with their legacy persisting in language, culture, and traditions. One of those traditions, and central to Halloween’s origins, is the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”). The Celts were largely a farming and agricultural people and their year was organised by the growing seasons. Samhain marked the end of a joyous and fruitful season, and the start of another, altogether more gloomy one.

Samhain was a Gaelic celebration marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of the cold and dark half of the year. The perfect metaphor for the line between the living and the dead. On the night of October 31st, the Celts believed that ghosts returned to the mortal world. They lit bonfires to ward off malevolent beings, and people put in disguises to blend in with wandering ghosts. These practices laid the foundation for many of the customs we associate with Halloween today, such as dressing up in costumes and carving lanterns to light the way through the darkness.

Another of the most popular Halloween traditions, pumpkin carving, may also have had its roots in the festival of Samhain. While it’s not certain, it’s thought that Celtic priests, known as druids, went from house to house to ensure that each home’s hearth fire was lit from the coals of a sacred bonfire, and the coals were put into hollowed out root vegetables.

Similarly, the Celts would also carve menacing faces into their veg – turnips, swedes, potatoes etc – and put them on their windowsills and at doorways, still with burning embers inside, with the intention of frightening away any wandering spirits or unwanted supernatural visitors.

The switch to pumpkins probably happened in the nineteenth century when millions of Scottish and Irish immigrants moved to America and found the fruit – yes, a pumpkin is a fruit – bigger and easier to hollow and carve than a turnip!

Over the centuries, there have been other festivals and traditions that have also left their mark on Halloween’s evolution.

Roman Traditions

Roman festivals like Feralia in February, which celebrated the spirits of the dead, and Lemuria in May, where they performed rites to exorcise malevolent ghosts from their homes, may have contributed to the development of Halloween’s focus on spirits and the afterlife. And Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards introduced one of the more enjoyable aspects of Halloween. She was celebrated during the harvest season for her association with fruit and abundance and legend has it that in her honour, we bob for apples in a big bowl of water!

Medieval Europe

During the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe, witches were feared as evil beings who made pacts with the devil and used magic to harm others, and witches are now one of the most recognisable symbols of Halloween. In addition, the Black Plague was associated with evil spirits and malevolent forces and the modern day imagery of death, skeletons and ghouls has woven itself into the fabric of Halloween.

Even the tradition of coming home with bags filled with sweets and chocolate seemingly has its roots in the ancient world. To appease the spirits of the dead during Samhain, the Celtic people are said to have left out food offerings, including tying apples to trees, to ward off evil.

During the Middle Ages in England a practice known as ‘souling’ also involved children going door-to-door on All Souls’ Day (November 2), singing songs and offering prayers for the dead in exchange for small cakes called ‘soul cakes’. And in Scotland and Ireland, ‘guising’ involved children going door-to-door in costumes, carrying lanterns made from scooped out vegetables and being rewarded with money, cakes and fruit. They took this tradition over to North America where it was first documented in 1911 in Ontario, Canada.

Beyond Halloween itself, many cultures around the world have celebrated festivals that, like Halloween, honour the dead, mark the change of seasons, and explore themes of the supernatural and the afterlife.

The Wild Hunt

In Germanic and Norse mythology, the Wild Hunt was a ghostly procession led by a deity or supernatural figure, often witnessed during the winter or on stormy nights. The procession was said to include souls of the dead, spirits, or mythical creatures, and was associated with themes of death, the supernatural, and the transition between life and the afterlife. While not directly linked to Halloween, the Wild Hunt shares significant similarities with Halloween’s focus on the otherworld.

Día de los Muertos

Celebrated in ancient Mesoamerican cultures, particularly among the Aztecs and Maya, the Day of the Dead is when people perform rituals to honour their deceased loved ones with the belief that the souls of the dead could return to visit the living. It’s still celebrated in Mexico and around the world, and while it’s different to Halloween, the two celebrations nevertheless have much in common.

Hades & The Underworld

In ancient Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the underworld, ruling over the realm of the dead. The Greeks held beliefs about the afterlife and the journey of souls, reflecting their fascination with death and what lies beyond. Although they didn’t have a festival equivalent to Halloween, the themes of the underworld and the afterlife in Greek mythology parallel the supernatural aspects explored during Halloween celebrations.

With roots digging deep into myriad cultures and traditions, Halloween is so much more than just costumes, spooky masks, and sweet treats. It’s a colourful mix of ancient rituals, harvest festivals, and age-old superstitions that have danced together through time. So, as you carve your pumpkins and dress up as ghouls and goblins, remember – you’re taking part in a celebration that’s been thousands of years in the making!