 |
|
Margadonna:
Halloween was not widely observed, in America, during the first few hundred years of settlement. However, when the potato famine in the 1840s in Ireland, brought thousands of Irishman to America, they in turn brought the custom with them. Now our children have taken over this "holiday", making it an occasion to dress in costumes, carve "jack-o'-lanterns", go "trick-or-treating" and share ghost stories. Not many realize that these customs have their own origins in various ancient Halloween/New Year festivals.
Brought to America by the devout, militantly Catholic Irish .... quite a piece of evidence this .... but for what? Perhaps more anti-Catholic bias is showing here? And how these tracts connect Roman paganism with Irish paganism is still a mystery to me, since (I repeat) Ireland was never conquered by the Romans.
Tract 1:
(Trick or Treat): The Druids went from house to house asking for a contribution to their demonic worship celebration. If a person didn't give, their trick was to kill him. The people feared the phrase "trick or Treat."
Tract 2:
The Pagans believed that on one night of the year, souls of the dead returned to their original homes. These wandering spirits were in the habit of haunting the living. To exorcise these ghosts (that is, to free yourself from an evil spirit) you would have to set out food, (give the demons a treat) and provide shelter for them by the night. If you didn't, they would "trick" you by casting a spell on you or hurting you.
Tract 1:
The Druids wore masks, skulls and costumes, even offered human sacrifices on October 31st, to ward off evil spirits.
Margadonna:
The custom of going door to door begging for candy, apples and pennies while masked and dressed in grotesque or outlandish costumes goes back to the pagan New Year feast. There was an ancient Celtic practice on Halloween, of groups of peasents going from house to house, asking for money to buy food for the feast; and demanding fatted calves and black sheep be prepared for the occasion. These "contributions" were requested in the name of Muck Olla, a Druid deity. Prosperity was assured liberal givers and threats were voiced against those who were stingy. Then, at the feast itself, the ghosts, that were thought to throng all around were greeted with a banquet table. At the end of the feast, the masked and costumed villagers, representing the souls of the dead paraded to the outskirts of town leading the ghosts away.
Phillips:
Trick-or-Treat came from and ancient Druid practice. Prosperity was promised to all who were generous donors, and tricks to all who refused during the Irish Druid event of trick-or-treat. The contributions demanded were in the name of Muck Olla, an early Druid deity.
Very nice, and totally misleading! First of all, there is no documentation for "Muck Olla" being a 'Druid deity.' None. It is apparently a 'boogy-man' type of mythical figure in Yorkshire, which is in England, not Scotland or Ireland. It is quite common for local residents of Britain to ascribe the origins of old folk customs, or old monuments or whatever, to "the Druids," just as many people in North America ascribe similar things to "the Indians." Taking this as fact is poor scholarship indeed.
Indeed, at least one tract goes one step further into fantasy and names "Muck Olla" as the Druid "sun-god!"
Second of all, the customs described may be simply survivals / extensions of 'Morris Dancers' and 'Soulers,' which appear several times through the year, and more than probably date back to pagan times, but which now are thoroughly Christianized, using a player representing St. George, and other Christian symbols and characters. These dancers appear in England, but not Ireland or Scotland. The masked guisers, in horrific masks, would seem to be to scare off the demons, or to represent the souls of the dead. ( At least, that's what most anthropological sources for such acts in other human cultures at the same or similar stage of development show. )
The actual historic practice seems to have been masked guisers going from house to house and putting on a simple play or musical performance in return for food and drink .... at New Year's. This is a long way from the Evil Druid Sacrifices (with or without a hollow turnip....) on Halloween.
There is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE of the wearing of costumes of any sort on Halloween in the Middle Ages in Ireland, Scotland, England or Wales ..... and IF costumes were worn in the pagan era in the British Isles, the tradition was obviously broken for a good long time .... long enough for any paleo-pagan traditions surrounding it to totally die out.
Third, we -do- find a "trick-or-treat" custom in rural Scotland on and before the turn of the century in 1900, but this was at Hogmany (January 1, New Year's Day) at not on All Hallow's Eve. The "Carmina Gaedelica" shows that curses were invoked on homes that didn't treat their Hogmany holiday visitors. For the real age of the phrase "trick or treat," see below.
Fourth, the Celtic New Year and the Roman New Year were not the same. The Celtic New Year was indeed Nov. 1, but the Roman was on April 22, (and the Medieval Christian generally (but not always) tended to fall on Easter.)
Fifth, the major domestic animals of the pagan Irish were the pig and cow, not the sheep. Sheep were not introduced into Scotland as a whole until the Highland Clearances of the mid-1800s, though they did exist as a domestic animal in Ireland by circa 800 BCE, and were found on the west coast of Scotland in small numbers.
We can infer, from the fact that wool and sheep are so seldom mentioned in the pre-Christian Irish poems and so forth (in comparison to linen, silk, cattle and pigs) that sheep were probably not considered all that valuble. They certainly had no supernatural connotations, like pigs and cattle did. King Cormac MacArt is represented as being a shepherd in one tale, but that story may be corrupted by medieval interpolations. Were this story pre-Christian, as is intimated, I dare say we would find black -pigs- (an animal sacred to the Underworld) or -cattle- (one of the indicators of great wealth) being requested, not black -sheep.-
There is a surviving Irish bardic satirical poem (date unknown, but quite early on) that satirizes a chieftain for not giving gold or silver for poems, but giving a cow instead. This may indicate that cows were -not- all that valuble, or it may indicate that the bard that composed the satire wanted more movable rewards.
As for the Irish Druids practicing 'trick-or-treat,' (and killing or cursing people who didn't "treat") .... once again, we have no hard evidence. The only real evidence of solicitation for gifts and treats on All Hallow's Eve seems to be found only in Christian times, and, as pointed out below, the phrase "trick or treat" is not Druidic, but something else entirely:
Jill Pederson Meyer points out that:
“let off steam” for crowded and poor urban dwellers. As Stuart Schneider writes in 'Halloween in America' (1995), vandalism that had been limited to tipping outhouses; removing gates, soaping windows and switching shop signs, by the 1920’s had become nasty -- with real destruction of property and cruelty to animals and people. Perhaps not coincidentally, the disguised nighttime terrorism and murders by the Klu Klux Klan reached their apex during the decade. Schneider writes that neighborhood committees and local city clubs such as the Boy Scouts then mobilized to organize safe and fun alternatives to vandalism. School posters of the time call for a “Sane Halloween.” Good children were encouraged to go door to door and receive treats from homes and shop owners, thereby keeping troublemakers away. By the 1930’s, these “beggar’s nights” were enormously popular and being practiced nationwide, with the “trick or treat” greeting widespread from the late 1930’s.""By the turn of the century, Halloween had become an ever more destructive way to
( There is a good link for more information on this here )
Perhaps we should look at the Boy Scouts for Satanist influences? I find that avenue highly unlikely.
In addition, Ken C. Erickson and Patricia Sunderland write in the Washington Post for Oct. 14, 1998:
"The words "trick or treat" apparently were not in use until 1941, when they first appear in files of Merriam-Webster, Inc., after being used as the title of a poem in The Saturday Evening Post. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase "trick-or-treating" first appeared in The Sun in Baltimore in 1950. But the practice may be considerably older."
BOO! by Jack Chick |
Margadonna:
It was believed that Halloween was the gathering time for unsanctified spirits; due to this belief a cult of witches devoted to the worship of Satan sprang up, during the Middle Ages. They held periodic meetings, called Witches Sabbaths; the most important of which was All Hallows' Eve. At this sabbath the Prince of Darkness would appear, to mock the coming feast of the saints. The popular thought was that the witches would hold orgies at these sabbaths; and that they would be accompanied by their black cats, and that they would fly them on broomsticks.
Uh-huh! And all of this information from the 'Malleus Maleficarium,' Cotton Mather's 'Wonders of the Invisible World,' and other such books written by witch-hunters of notable credulity and superstition. This is rather like taking what the Nazis wrote about the Jews as the truth.
I also seriously doubt that the supposed belief in Halloween as outlined above was the reason for the "witch-mania" of the 12th thru 17th centuries CE (the greater part of which happened in Germany) though the practices outlined above seem to have only come into real popularity after the publication of the various anti-witchcraft books and tracts.
The sexual sadism and lack of true Christian values of the leaders of the witch-hunts should be obvious to anyone.
Margadonna:
With some variations the basis of the Jack-O'-Lantern is as follows: There was a stingy drunkard of an Irishman named Jack; who tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree. Then Jack quickly cut the sign of a cross into the trunk of the tree; thereby preventing the Devil from climbing down. Jack made the Devil swear that he wouldn't ever come after Jack's soul again or claim it in any way. However, this did not stop Jack from dying and when he did he was not allowed into Heaven, because of his life of drinking, being tightfisted and being deceitful. And because of the oath the Devil had taken Jack was not allowed into Hell either. "But where can I go?" asked Jack. "Back where you came from!" replied the Devil. The way back was windy and dark. The Devil, as a final gesture, threw a live coal at Jack straight from the fire of Hell. To light his way and to keep it from blowing out in the wind Jack put it in a turnip he was eating. Ever since Jack and his "lantern" has been traveling over the face of the earth looking for a place to rest.
Tract 1:
(Jack o'Lantern): An ancient symbol of a damned soul. "Jack-o'- Lanterns were named for a man called Jack, who could not enter Heaven or Hell. As a result, he was doomed to wander in darkness with his lantern until Judgment Day."
Tract 2:
The apparently harmless lighted pumpkin face of "Jack-o-Lantern" is an ancient symbol of a damned soul. They were named for a man named Jack who could not enter Hell or Heaven. As a result, he was doomed to wander in darkness with his lantern until Judgment Day. Fearful of spooks, folks began to hollow out turnips and pumpkins and to place lighted candles inside to scare away evil spirits from the house.
This is a nice little 18th Century Irish folk myth, variants of which have been heard as explainations for the will o'the wisp, but hardly hard evidence for anything other than the wonderful Irish talent for making up stories .... and as a professional folklorist, I have learned to look very hard at any supposed folk story written down in the 18th and 19th centuries; the authors/collectors had a tendency to 'improve' on the supposed 'bad literary qualities' of the stories and songs. Percy, for example, ("Reliques Of Ancient English Poetry") was notorious for such bowlderizations, and many were guilty of taking stories down from wandering story-tellers, who did not just tell folktales, but tended to make up stories out of whole cloth, on the spot, as often as not.
Also, look at the changes in emphasis within the three tracts quoted. Margadonna gives the folktale pretty much straight. Tracts 1 and 2, however, extend the story further to give the jack o'lantern the meaning of an "ancient symbol of a damned soul." If this were true, we would find it in the Christian iconography of Western Europe, or the pagan carvings, or somewhere in graphic representations. It is notable by its absence, even as a carved turnip.
( I should remind everyone that the pumpkin is a New World vegetable. While I have no hard evidence of when it was popularized in Europe, we have evidence of other New World vegetables being grown and eaten in Western Europe as early as 1550 CE, but even that is quite some time after the Christianization of Western Europe as a whole. )
The hollowing out of a turnip to serve as a makeshift lantern would
be simply a clever way to solve a technical problem in the absence of
available metal.
|
I would also point out that the Big Bad Druids in England adopted Christianity with NO killings of Christian priests! There are no authenticated English martyrs from the time of the Druids in Britain. One would expect such a blood-thirsty belief system as the Druids are represented to be to have killed the missionaries as fast as they arrived, when, in fact, they gave them land (Glastonbury, supposedly given in 60 AD, is a good example of this), listened to them, and adopted Christianity with very little trouble at all. The only British martyrs date from the Diocletian persecutions ( ca. 303 CE ) by the Roman Empire.
Phillips:
The uninformed Christian has no idea that there truly are demonic spirits which are contacted and activated as people call out to them in jest or in seriousness. Every act around Halloween is in honor of false gods, which are spirits in the realm of the Satanic. Those who have been deeply involved in witchcraft and who are now free, declare that even those who say they worship spirits of nature are in actuality contacting the Satanic realm without knowing it.
Phillips:
Through the ages, Halloween has gone by various names but all have been tributes to the same dark force, Satan. There is no place in the life of the Church or the Christian for such participation.
One could make a comment about the 'haunted houses' sponsored by various Fundamentalist Christian groups that, (to use one local group's as an example) first show a lady smothering a baby and saying "I couldn't stand its' crying anymore" and then show what purports to be a 'typical' abortion, in graphic detail, and -not- saying in advance to people what was about to be shown to them, and with a man dressed up as a 'demon' at the door! (news broadcast, 10:00 pm Ch. 10 Phoenix, AZ, 31 Oct. 1992 CE)
Phillips:
To pray for the dead is against scripture. If one knows Jesus before death, their spirit is already with the Lord. Paul says to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord, II Corinthians 5:6. If one is an unbeliever at death, the scripture says there is no second chance as it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. Therefore, prayer for the dead is in opposition to God's Word and a pagan practice that became "Christianized". While living, one must make a choice "for" or "against" Jesus and that determines the destination at death of the spirit. No amount of prayer can reverse the decision made on earth by the person concerned while they were alive.
Obviously, Mrs. Phillips is a hard-line Protestant, and here her anti-Catholic agenda comes on quite strongly.
Phillips:
Although the outward forms of such worship disappeared, the belief in these deities did not. They found an outlet during the Middle Ages in the open practice of witchcraft which is presently enjoying a revival in many countries, including the U.S. In Germany the occult is considered more prevalent than in the Middle Ages. The deistic cults held periodic meetings known as witches sabbaths, and it is the same today with October 31st being of more importance.
The "deistic cults?" The -what-? Does she mean the so-called witches, or does she mean the Unitarians? In this context, the statement is essentially meaningless.
The word "witchcraft" during the Middle Ages had essentially the same connotations that "leftist" does in modern North American society: that of a revolutionary out to kill, burn and pillage the stable society. Most of the so-called "witchcraft" of the period was merely McCarthyite-style mob hysteria against people perceived as outsiders.
And, once again, taking the anti-witch tracts of the period as real history is poor scholarship indeed.
It should be remembered that the accusation of "witchcraft" was a common means of attacking proto-Protestants, such as the Albigensians and Stedingers, or, through the practice of informers receiving a percentage of the "take," of getting your hands on your neighbor's land and money. The word "witch-hunt" is a very ugly word indeed, smacking of mobs and lynching more than the Love of Jesus. Killing your neighbor (or hassling him or her because of their beliefs) is not loving him .... or loving Him either.
Phillips:
The Bible instructs us to have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness. Both Christian and Jew are forbidden to participate in the occult practices listed in Deuteronomy 18:10. Necromancing is the delving into contacting the dead. God said all such practice was an abomination to Him.
Phillips:
Some may reply, "But we only do this in fun...we don't practice witchcraft." That which represents Satan and his domain cannot be handled or emulated "for fun". Such participation places you in enemy and forbidden territory and that is dangerous ground.
I make no statement as to the validity of these paragraphs. Each Christian must decide for themselves whether dressing up in funny clothes and asking for candy from the neighbors is 'satanic' and 'necromancing' or not.
Allowing your children to dress up as mass-murderers and as villains from the Hollywood slasher movies may or may not be 'satanic,' but it certainly is stupid. Making such creatures objects of 'hero-worship' might not be giving the kind of message to children that necessarily enables them to become sober, productive adults.
I will say that Jesus Himself hung out with a crowd that the local Pharisees did not approve of (I heard them described once as "Republicans and sinners.") perhaps because these were the very ones in the most need of Him. Holding oneself apart from the World is perhaps a good thing, but remember that we are reminded to be "in the world" as well as being "not of it." I would think that Halloween would be a wonderful opportunity to include small, easily understood tracts in the candy given to children, with more appealing and detailed ones given to teenagers that are out trick-or-treating. A smile, and a "God bless you!" will save more souls than a grumpy, Pharisaical frown.
At least the two anonymous tracts offer workable alternatives to the worldly celebration:
Tract 1:
One successful alternative used by a number of churches is a "Faith Festival" in which children dress as their favorite Bible character and gather for a special children's service with puppets, a Christian film, or something special. This offers an ideal opportunity to explain the spiritual significance of Halloween and to encourage the children to remember Hebrews chapter 11, which features great men and women of faith who have gone before us. The "Faith Festival" can be a time to thank God for His many blessings.
Tract 1:
As believers, we can take this opportunity to provide a creative alternative to this celebration of darkness. In ancient Israel, the majority of Jewish festivals occurred at the same time as pagan festivals. God did not simply tell his people not to engage in pagan festivals, He provided an alternative. During every major pagan festival, the Hebrew people would take part in a God-given alternative, a festival celebrating the same general subject but with a completely different focus.
I would think that All Saint's Day would serve this purpose very well indeed, and the Apostolic churches (Roman Catholic, Anglican, Greek and Russian Orthodox, Old Catholic and so forth) seem to agree.
Sadly, with the advent of the concept of "Political Correctness," there seems to be a trend to react to complaints concerning any sort of holiday that can even be remotely thought of as religious by removing -all- such holidays from the "public square;" Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Ramadan or whatever seem to be vanishing from both the "usual" public venues such as legislatures, courts and shopping malls and from our public schools. We are culturally the poorer for it.
One final observation may be in order: If the holiday is of such antiquity, and survived so long into Christian times among the Scots and Irish, then we would expect to find it as a major event, or even a minor event, in the lives of the Scots - Irish of the Appalachian Mountains and the Ozarks. In fact, we do not find it there at all, even among the practitioners of "folk magic," or "witchcraft," except after the cultural assimilation of the area into the American mainstream following World War One.
We would also expect to find it, along with all or most of the so- called "Druid" customs associated with it, in Medieval Western Europe. We do not.
Like Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, we find a great deal of significance in this "dog barking in the night."
(Holmes pointed out that the dog did -not- bark that night, and thus unraveled a whole tissue of fabrications and outright lies.)
It may be safe to assume therefore that the customs now attached to
Halloween entered America in the mid-19th century CE, probably with the
immigrations of the Irish after 1840, and probably entered Irish culture
after 1750 CE. We do not find the holiday as anything other than "All
Saints'" in modern Ireland or Scotland, however, so it must be said that
"Halloween" as we know it in America, with all the folk stories and urban
legends attached to it, is a distinctly American phenomenon, with the "Trick or Treat"
bits occuring after 1930 CE.
|
It has apparently entered England to some degree due to the
cultural cross-fertilizations ocurring as a result of modern mass -
communications, not as a traditional English holiday, though there may be a
connection with the November 5th "Guy Fawke's Day" celebrations and with the
traditional "Mischief Night."
But the bottom line here is that there is NO provable connection with ancient Druidic beliefs, since we have no hard information on their belief system, just speculation, propaganda, and some garbled stories.
I love to see the children, out in the neighborhood streets with their parents, dressed in funny clothing, having a wonderful time .... and mocking the Devil with laughter.
I am reminded of a story a friend told me: in a class on electricity, the Professor asked the class "What should you do if you see one of your classmates being fried by a wrongly-connected circuit?"
The Professor's answer was: "Point and laugh: he didn't follow directions."
This Halloween, watch the children pointing and laughing. Do a little
pointing and laughing yourself, and watch the Devil squirm. He didn't follow
directions.
|
|
