It's coming up to that time of year when I assume a smug expression and regale anyone who'll listen with the origins of Halloween, which lie firmly in this corner of the world. Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced 'sow-in' or thereabouts, depending on what part of Ireland you’re from). The Celts celebrated their New Year on the first day of November. That day officially marked the end of summer and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year also associated with human death back then. Celts believed that on the night before their New Year, 31st October, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. It was a time to honor those who'd gone before them, a time to show gratitude for their ancestors' strength, their spirit and their ability to survive through the hardest of times.

To celebrate they built huge, sacred bonfires and gathered there to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. They wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

In 609 AD the Pope dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honour of all Christian martyrs and so the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. A subsequent Pope expanded the festival to include all saints as well as martyrs and moved the observance to 1st November. When Christianity spread to Celtic lands the Church gradually blended All Martyrs Day with Samhain and the older Celtic rites. In time they supplanted them altogether. In 1000 AD, the church made 2nd November All Souls Day, a day to honour the dead. As with most of today's Christian festivals, the Church was replacing the Celtic festival with a related, but Church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated in the same way as Samhain with huge bonfires, parades, and people dressing up as saints, angels and devils. All Saints Day was also called All-Hallows and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, was called All-Hallows Eve which eventually became Halloween.

So there you have it. However you're celebrating Samhain/Halloween this year, stay safe, have a wonderful time and take a moment to remember where it all began... in Old Ireland. 🥰