Great read - Halloween has always been about more than costumes and candy. At its core, it’s about standing on the threshold between worlds: a moment when the visible and invisible brush against each other.
Like autumn, it marks the dying of one season and the preparation for something new.
The masks, the candles, the harvest, the long nights, all of it comes from an intuition that death isn’t the end, but a passage.
Even dressing up as ghosts or monsters is, in a way, our attempt to face what scares us instead of pretending it’s not there.
As you mention, in the Christian calendar, Halloween comes right before All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, the time when the Church remembers those who’ve passed through death into light - so symbolically, it sits right at the edge of chaos, acknowledging that darkness comes before holiness dawns.
Like winter after the harvest, it reminds us that decay isn’t final. Not ignoring death but taking it in points to the resurrection.
I believe Samhain has less to do with the timing of [Halloween,] All Saints, & All Souls than most people think. So many people try to tie the pagan to the Christian as a means of weakening the Christian and/or elevating the pagan. Traditionally, the Church makes no mention, not even obliquely, to the celebration of Samhain when establishing All Saints/All Souls Days.
Initially All Saints Day was in May, but when a church in Rome was to be dedicated to All Saints on November 1, the celebration of All Saints was moved to November 1. People would make pilgrimages to the All Saints church around the time of its anniversary of its dedication. Particularly people that did not have a church with their particular Saint’s name. This led to the Church marking that day as a worldwide feast/solemnity. People could visit their local churches and beloved dead at their cemeteries in honor of this day. To honor everyone’s beloved dead, All Souls Day was added the day after All Saints. While it’s possible that some of the Celtic adjacent people meshed the Christian celebration with the pagan one, many of the customs originate more with Christians imitating the Saints in costume, asking the people for prayers for the dead, and gathering to celebrate the lives of the beloved dead collectively.
The current Halloween ‘festivities’ do probably owe more to recent scholarship linking Halloween to Samhain and/or to the decrease of faithful and the increase in those against the Faith. The widespread rejection of Saints by the 40,000 Protestant denominations and their narrative that praying for intercession is at best worthless, but at first demonic also probably pushed the celebration of Halloween towards where it is now. As society becomes more and more ‘tolerant’ of pagan & occult rituals Halloween will continue to get further and further from its Christian roots.
The timing of Halloween is due to the fact that at the end of Oct/ beginning of Nov the Earth passes through the remnants of a broken up comet. The Taurid meteor shower today is just a show of 'shooting stars' because most of the larger fragments have already been 'hoovered up' by the Earth and other planets in our solar system over (presumably) tens of thousands of years, or longer.
But in ancient times (predating our current civilisation) there must have been an almighty impact from one of the larger fragments which practically wiped out the human race and caused widespread destruction and mayhem.
Over the following millennia each time the Earth crossed the Taurid stream (at this time of year) the night sky would have been ablaze with large meteorites (comet fragments) burning up. This would have been a terrifying sight given that everyone would have known that at any moment a large impact could wipe out their local area or continent.
Presumably there were many impacts of such a scale over the centuries, making this time of year a moment of profound dread - equivalent to the Earth having to cross a busy multi lane freeway each year (it's actually twice a year but we tend to focus on the Autumn Taurid stream and not the Spring crossing).
Eventually as more of the larger comet debris got burned up all that was left was the smaller 'shooting stars' that we still see today as we pass through them. But there are still some large chunks orbiting the sun. There is still a risk of a major impact each crossing, although this risk is greatly reduced comapared to the past.
Many cultures celebrate Halloween (in both hemispheres) and all over the world ancient art and religious symbolism depicts 'broom stars' and 'women with long hair' flying through the night skies bringing death and destruction in their wake. The comet fragment tails resembled old fashioned brooms as well as flowing long hair..... hence the (combined) symbolism of a witch riding a broom through the night sky. When people dress up as witches on brooms they are actually dressing up as comet fragments.
At Halloween we are remembering the largest natural disaster(s) and mass death event(s) in recorded history - and there must have been many impacts at this time of year, each time renewing the fear and dread in that culture and keeping the festival going.
Halloween might even be one of the oldest historical records - predating even the great flood (end of the last ice age). It might be hundreds of thousands of years old.
No doubt the impact events caused intergenerational trauma across the whole human race. But today in our world of street lighting and plastic Halloween masks and costumes most people are blissfully unaware of the significance of the festival... or the shooting stars that still streak across the night sky, as they go from house to house trick or treating.
The key astronomy and symbolism is summarised in this video. Fascinating stuff :)
I had just posted my take and a quote/link from Lisa Bittel, Professor of History, University of Southern California. The entire article points out how we really don’t even know how Samhain was celebrated--most all our beliefs about Samhain are conjecture. She also agrees with you that in 834, Pope Gregory IV who set the date for All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) had no knowledge of Samhain or other Celtic traditions. He was merely consolidating and setting one date to make certain it was being observed consistently.
So Halloween isn’t just candy and cheap jumpscares! (it’s the part of us that stays up late writing emails we’ll never send). Thanks for showing that what we call fun is just a thin costume over existential dread.
Actually, it’s not so much a reworking of Samhain as many think.
From Lisa Bittel, Professor of History, University of Southern California:
"The link between Oct. 31, ghosts and devils was really the pope’s fault.
"In 834, Pope Gregory IV decreed Nov. 1 the day for celebrating all Christian saints. In English, the feast day became All Hallows Day. The night before — Oct. 31 — became known as All Hallows Eve.
"Some modern interpretations insist that Pope Gregory created All Hallows Day to quell pagan celebrations of Samhain. But Gregory knew nothing of ancient Irish seasonal holidays. In reality, he probably did it because everyone celebrated All Saints on different days and, like other Popes, Gregory sought to consolidate and control the liturgical calendar.”
-Lisa Bitel, Dean’s Professor of Religion and Professor of History, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
I often point out how it is more about poking fun at our fear of death and poking fun at the “powers and principalities” because they have been ultimately defeated.
I think it's beautiful how so many holidays have a history measured in centuries. People look for a reason to celebrate and take the closest thing, add some contributions to it and pass it along down the generations.
It seems likely the festival commemorates the impact of the comet fragment which wiped out most of humanity. Today all that's left of this broken up comet is the Taurid meteor shower which we pass through each Halloween. Luckily most of the larger fragments have already impacted, leaving mostly small shooting stars only.
So the festival may have originated tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago! Presumably more recent impacts over the millennia kept the festival alive, and rekindled the dread people felt at this time of year - a dread directed at the skies.
Comets and shooting stars used to be depicted as 'broom stars' (the tails look like old fashioned brooms) and 'flying women with long hair' giving rise to the modern symbolism of a woman with long hair riding a broom at night at this time of year (the Taurid stream) and spreading death and destruction in her wake....
Excellent summary. So often the benevolent religious connections to Halloween seem to get swept under the rug in favor of the mysterious spiritual connections.
My parents married on Halloween. Dad was in the army and it was the only weekend available for their wedding so that family and friends could arrive. This is why we had double celebrations every year and they were “treated” to a lifelong friendship of love and laughter!
This is concise and illuminating! My children are asking me, "Why?" in reference to Hallowe-en, and I am happy to be able to point them to ancient liturgy and the merciful work of praying for our beloved dead. Also, I used the same Fra Angelico fresco for my small contribution to these feast days! Love it!
Great read - Halloween has always been about more than costumes and candy. At its core, it’s about standing on the threshold between worlds: a moment when the visible and invisible brush against each other.
Like autumn, it marks the dying of one season and the preparation for something new.
The masks, the candles, the harvest, the long nights, all of it comes from an intuition that death isn’t the end, but a passage.
Even dressing up as ghosts or monsters is, in a way, our attempt to face what scares us instead of pretending it’s not there.
As you mention, in the Christian calendar, Halloween comes right before All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, the time when the Church remembers those who’ve passed through death into light - so symbolically, it sits right at the edge of chaos, acknowledging that darkness comes before holiness dawns.
Like winter after the harvest, it reminds us that decay isn’t final. Not ignoring death but taking it in points to the resurrection.
I love memento mori art and the danse macabre
I believe Samhain has less to do with the timing of [Halloween,] All Saints, & All Souls than most people think. So many people try to tie the pagan to the Christian as a means of weakening the Christian and/or elevating the pagan. Traditionally, the Church makes no mention, not even obliquely, to the celebration of Samhain when establishing All Saints/All Souls Days.
Initially All Saints Day was in May, but when a church in Rome was to be dedicated to All Saints on November 1, the celebration of All Saints was moved to November 1. People would make pilgrimages to the All Saints church around the time of its anniversary of its dedication. Particularly people that did not have a church with their particular Saint’s name. This led to the Church marking that day as a worldwide feast/solemnity. People could visit their local churches and beloved dead at their cemeteries in honor of this day. To honor everyone’s beloved dead, All Souls Day was added the day after All Saints. While it’s possible that some of the Celtic adjacent people meshed the Christian celebration with the pagan one, many of the customs originate more with Christians imitating the Saints in costume, asking the people for prayers for the dead, and gathering to celebrate the lives of the beloved dead collectively.
The current Halloween ‘festivities’ do probably owe more to recent scholarship linking Halloween to Samhain and/or to the decrease of faithful and the increase in those against the Faith. The widespread rejection of Saints by the 40,000 Protestant denominations and their narrative that praying for intercession is at best worthless, but at first demonic also probably pushed the celebration of Halloween towards where it is now. As society becomes more and more ‘tolerant’ of pagan & occult rituals Halloween will continue to get further and further from its Christian roots.
The timing of Halloween is due to the fact that at the end of Oct/ beginning of Nov the Earth passes through the remnants of a broken up comet. The Taurid meteor shower today is just a show of 'shooting stars' because most of the larger fragments have already been 'hoovered up' by the Earth and other planets in our solar system over (presumably) tens of thousands of years, or longer.
But in ancient times (predating our current civilisation) there must have been an almighty impact from one of the larger fragments which practically wiped out the human race and caused widespread destruction and mayhem.
Over the following millennia each time the Earth crossed the Taurid stream (at this time of year) the night sky would have been ablaze with large meteorites (comet fragments) burning up. This would have been a terrifying sight given that everyone would have known that at any moment a large impact could wipe out their local area or continent.
Presumably there were many impacts of such a scale over the centuries, making this time of year a moment of profound dread - equivalent to the Earth having to cross a busy multi lane freeway each year (it's actually twice a year but we tend to focus on the Autumn Taurid stream and not the Spring crossing).
Eventually as more of the larger comet debris got burned up all that was left was the smaller 'shooting stars' that we still see today as we pass through them. But there are still some large chunks orbiting the sun. There is still a risk of a major impact each crossing, although this risk is greatly reduced comapared to the past.
Many cultures celebrate Halloween (in both hemispheres) and all over the world ancient art and religious symbolism depicts 'broom stars' and 'women with long hair' flying through the night skies bringing death and destruction in their wake. The comet fragment tails resembled old fashioned brooms as well as flowing long hair..... hence the (combined) symbolism of a witch riding a broom through the night sky. When people dress up as witches on brooms they are actually dressing up as comet fragments.
At Halloween we are remembering the largest natural disaster(s) and mass death event(s) in recorded history - and there must have been many impacts at this time of year, each time renewing the fear and dread in that culture and keeping the festival going.
Halloween might even be one of the oldest historical records - predating even the great flood (end of the last ice age). It might be hundreds of thousands of years old.
No doubt the impact events caused intergenerational trauma across the whole human race. But today in our world of street lighting and plastic Halloween masks and costumes most people are blissfully unaware of the significance of the festival... or the shooting stars that still streak across the night sky, as they go from house to house trick or treating.
The key astronomy and symbolism is summarised in this video. Fascinating stuff :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtDj-he3EZ8
I had just posted my take and a quote/link from Lisa Bittel, Professor of History, University of Southern California. The entire article points out how we really don’t even know how Samhain was celebrated--most all our beliefs about Samhain are conjecture. She also agrees with you that in 834, Pope Gregory IV who set the date for All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) had no knowledge of Samhain or other Celtic traditions. He was merely consolidating and setting one date to make certain it was being observed consistently.
So Halloween isn’t just candy and cheap jumpscares! (it’s the part of us that stays up late writing emails we’ll never send). Thanks for showing that what we call fun is just a thin costume over existential dread.
Beautiful explanation. Reminds me to focus on the real reason for the season.
Actually, it’s not so much a reworking of Samhain as many think.
From Lisa Bittel, Professor of History, University of Southern California:
"The link between Oct. 31, ghosts and devils was really the pope’s fault.
"In 834, Pope Gregory IV decreed Nov. 1 the day for celebrating all Christian saints. In English, the feast day became All Hallows Day. The night before — Oct. 31 — became known as All Hallows Eve.
"Some modern interpretations insist that Pope Gregory created All Hallows Day to quell pagan celebrations of Samhain. But Gregory knew nothing of ancient Irish seasonal holidays. In reality, he probably did it because everyone celebrated All Saints on different days and, like other Popes, Gregory sought to consolidate and control the liturgical calendar.”
-Lisa Bitel, Dean’s Professor of Religion and Professor of History, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/ancient-irish-get-too-much-credit-for-halloween/#:~:text=Folklorists%20created%20a%20through%20line,beliefs%20had%20ancient%20pagan%20roots.
I often point out how it is more about poking fun at our fear of death and poking fun at the “powers and principalities” because they have been ultimately defeated.
Very informative, thank you!
I just wrote a piece on the origins of Halloween myself, and the original traditions. Great to see this piece coming out today.
https://open.substack.com/pub/endaharte/p/samhain-and-stoicism-01b?r=snmol&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I think it's beautiful how so many holidays have a history measured in centuries. People look for a reason to celebrate and take the closest thing, add some contributions to it and pass it along down the generations.
It seems likely the festival commemorates the impact of the comet fragment which wiped out most of humanity. Today all that's left of this broken up comet is the Taurid meteor shower which we pass through each Halloween. Luckily most of the larger fragments have already impacted, leaving mostly small shooting stars only.
So the festival may have originated tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago! Presumably more recent impacts over the millennia kept the festival alive, and rekindled the dread people felt at this time of year - a dread directed at the skies.
Comets and shooting stars used to be depicted as 'broom stars' (the tails look like old fashioned brooms) and 'flying women with long hair' giving rise to the modern symbolism of a woman with long hair riding a broom at night at this time of year (the Taurid stream) and spreading death and destruction in her wake....
https://open.substack.com/pub/pancakesushi/p/memento-mori?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=6obmra
Is someone able to explain to me where the doctrine of Purgatory comes from out of Scripture?
Glad to be Catholic!
Excellent summary. So often the benevolent religious connections to Halloween seem to get swept under the rug in favor of the mysterious spiritual connections.
Hi from Mexico
Just to clarify: It's not "día de los muertos" the correct name it's "día de muertos" the "los" it's wrong
Kind regards
My parents married on Halloween. Dad was in the army and it was the only weekend available for their wedding so that family and friends could arrive. This is why we had double celebrations every year and they were “treated” to a lifelong friendship of love and laughter!
This is concise and illuminating! My children are asking me, "Why?" in reference to Hallowe-en, and I am happy to be able to point them to ancient liturgy and the merciful work of praying for our beloved dead. Also, I used the same Fra Angelico fresco for my small contribution to these feast days! Love it!
https://open.substack.com/pub/apoetichome/p/bonus-all-saints-day-a-poetic-feast?r=2apacf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web