I want to talk about Halloween. It may be a common topic, but in the last week, I had conversations with three different newcomers who not only don’t celebrate Halloween, but they think it’s just an American holiday.

I’ve always loved history. And I find ancient cultures fascinating, especially the Celts. And that’s why I decided to make this episode.

Basically, the Celts were a collection of tribes that shared a similar language, tradition, and culture. It’s believed that their civilization started as early as 1,200 BC. They spread to most Western Europe but mainly lived in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and the north of France. They celebrated their new year on November 1st. Yes, their year ended with the summer.

And this is where we start talking about Halloween.

The Celts had a celebration called Samhain (“SAH-win”) to mark the end of summer, welcome the harvest and mark the beginning of what they called “the dark half of the year,” which is basically the winter when we get only a few hours of light.

Anyway, during that celebration, the Celts believed that the boundaries between the physical world and the spirit world broke, allowing spirits of the dead to roam freely in the land of the living.

And because the barrier between the dead and the living was broken, they prepared offerings left outside their villages in an attempt to satisfy the spirits and make sure they didn’t enter.

However, they believed that some spirits would still go inside their villages. Especially their ancestors, so the living dressed up as animals, using furs and branches, so the dead couldn’t recognize and take them to the otherworld where the dead dwell.

By the year 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had already conquered most Celtic territory, and during the four centuries that they ruled the land, a Roman festival called Feralia was combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. Feralia was when the Romans commemorated the passing of the dead, and it was celebrated in late October.

Then, many centuries later, Pope Gregory III moved the All Martyrs Day that was initially celebrated on May 13th to November 1st. And renamed it All Saints day.

By the 9th century, Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with older Celtic rites and traditions. Then in the year 1000, the church named November 2nd All Soul’s Day, also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

Halloween in this continent

Before the mid 19th century in North America, Halloween was not widely celebrated. It was until the second half of the 19th century when North America was flooded with new immigrants, especially Irish immigrants, that popularized Halloween on this side of the globe.

Most of the celebrations we have today in Canada come from traditions outside this country. And even though Halloween is now a night to go trick or treating and have fun with friends, it’s good to know that hundreds of years ago, people dressed up not to have fun but because they feared the spirits of the dead.

As I said in the beginning, I love history. So if you enjoyed this episode, let me know, and I’ll be happy to add a few of these here and there to talk about traditions or historical events that forged this country that we decided to call home.

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