It seems that there is a bit more interest this year about the origins of Halloween. Maybe it is the fascination with its seemingly mysterious and ambiguous origins. Maybe it is simply just marketable as Halloween has grown into an industry in the United States. It is, however, a story worth examining as Halloween has become a social fixture.
We outlined the Roman origins of Halloween over a year ago in a previous article, and here we will focus a bit more on the Roman holidays that bridge the gap from ancient Rome to modern Halloween.
First of all, there is the link of Halloween to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. As Samhain simply marks the end of summer, or the harvesting season in modern day Ireland, the festival was a celebration of the harvest and a look forward to the new year, which started on November 1st. There was a great big party for the community – all hearth fires were put out in favor of one, large, communal fire where sacrifices were made. Seeing as this was a time of transition, the belief was that the forces of the underworld were ever present as the line between the living and dead was blurred. It became a time of prophecy and the Druids, or priestly class of Celtic society, used this moment to ask questions about the future – doing this with great pomp and ritual. Most were also in costume. Once the rituals and celebrations were over, the hearths within the homes were rekindled using the fire from the sacred, communal bonfire.
The Romans were not without their otherworldy celebrations. There was the Feralia, which according to Ovid, was celebrated at the end of the Parentalia from February 13-21 (a festival for honoring dead ancestors). The Feralia, celebrated on February 21st, was a festival were the Romans had to make offerings to appease the dead. If they did not, the consequences could be hauntings by these infernal spirits.
Yet it remains that the strongest link between ancient Rome and modern Halloween was the result of the celebration which honored the goddess Pomona, the godess of fruits and orchards. She was associated with the apple, and as we have seen, this is probably the reason why bobbing for apples is a tradition associated with Halloween. The Romans, who had conquered the province of Gallia and thereby subjugated the Gauls and Celts (living in Britannia), assimilated Samhain with the Pomona festival (a form of synchretism). As this tradition was kept alive for hundreds of years, eventually the Roman Catholic church assimilated this pagan holiday celebration with the recognition of All Hallows Day, a day to commemorate the saints and martyrs of the Catholic church’s pantheon.
So Samhain/Pomona Day was typically celebrated on October 31st and Novemeber 1st, respectfully. Then the Catholic church proclaimed November 1st All Hallows, which essentiall made All Hallows Eve – or Hallowe’en – the night before, October 31st. Without the Roman empire assimilating Samhain into their own festival, we may not have had a Halloween celebration to begin with. Scary thought!
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