Samhain: The Celtic Traditions That Originated Modern-Day Halloween

As Halloween quickly approaches, we begin our ritualistic habits, like enjoying the autumnal color and offering a thank you for the slight chill in the air. We walk with the crunch of dried leaves underfoot and a hot pumpkin-flavored drink in our hand, wearing our favorite sweater with seasonal humor.

We prepare for the 31st of October by planning out parties with costumes, decorating with bats and pumpkins. We read scary stories and fill our cauldrons with piles of candy waiting for the young children dressed as every goblin, witch, and ghoul to shout, “Trick or treat!” It’s a fun time of year full of folly, but where did these traditions come from?

You might be surprised that this generation was not the first to celebrate such a day, but it wasn’t always like this.

Samhain: The Celtic Roots of Modern-Day Halloween

Samhain, pronounced Sah-Win, is an ancient Celt tradition starting before the 9th century. The root of modern-day Halloween starts here. Samhain translates into “Summer’s End” and was used to celebrate the bounty of the harvest, honoring the dead with offerings, and conjuring spirits from the other side.

Ancient Celts dressed in animal skins and wore masks and celebrated Samhain for centuries. Today, Wiccans and other Celtic Neo-Pagans celebrate it as a new year and adorn themselves with moon symbols.

The holiday is celebrated starting on the evening of October 31st. While not originally a Wiccan practice, the Wiccans adopted this holiday and other traditions from the pre-Christian Celts in the 1980s. They follow similar practices that the ancient Celts followed. The end of harvest season meant a decrease of daylight and chilled temperatures.

It was time to leave the hearth fires and harvest remaining crops and hunt the last of the wild game. Gaelic speaking people also believed it was a time when the veil between the natural and supernatural worlds thinned, allowing people to communicate with the spirit world.

Ancient Celtic Halloween Traditions

Pumpkin Carving

One recognizable Halloween tradition that harkens from these older Celtic times is the carving of pumpkins. Ancient people used root vegetables, such as turnips and beets, and carved them with faces. These would have a candle placed in them creating a makeshift lantern, not unlike today’s Jack-O-Lantern. These would then be used to decorate windowsills and doorsteps.

The Celts would even use these makeshift lanterns to walk around at night and light the pathway to communal Samhain bonfires. Today, some people wear a little pumpkin to celebrate the harvest season!

Dressing Up in Disguises and Trick or Treating

In Scotland and Ireland during the 1500s, another Halloween tradition began. Here people, mostly peasants, would dress-up disguising themselves to blend in with spirits.

Then, they would travel door to door, farm to farm, requesting offerings for the Samhain feast, and would sing a song or prayer to the giver as a thank you for the offering, usually a baked treat called a “soul-cake”. The modern-day singing of “trick or treat” originates from that thank you song!

These “treat” offerings were thought to humor evil spirits for the giver, but if you didn’t comply you may have been met with great misfortune. Unhappy peasants could cause mischief for any stingy offering. If not satisfied by an offering, you would get the “trick”, thus giving yet another name to the holiday: “Mischief Night.” The reference to Mischief Night can even be found in Scottish literature dating back to the Highlands from 1736.

Common Halloween Imagery

The ancient Celtic tradition had strong roots in nature. In today’s modern Halloween practices, a common image is of a witch flying in front of a full moon accompanied by cats and bats. Celts were attentive to the phases of the moon, both crescent and full, and incorporated them into their beliefs.

The ever-changing moon symbolized the change of the season and honoring “the goddess” in each of her forms. It acted as a guide for hunting and harvest. Plants, such as mistletoe and oak leaves were used to decorate the home and clothing.

Remember Ancient Traditions When Celebrating Halloween

While today’s celebration of Halloween is an opportunity to dress up and have fun, we can also be reminded that these traditions didn’t just pop up. They go back more than 1,000 years, when our Celtic ancestors questioned the same things we do today.

They were fearful of death, they feared the dark, they longed for departed loved ones, and they were trying to make ends meet in a time when money was used in the form of trading seeds instead of paper money. They wanted answers and looked to higher powers for them. Not much has changed, except today we are searching for our favorite candy bar and trying to figure out which wine pairs with it the best.

Happy Halloween!