The sordid history of
holloween costumes…

holloween costume

The ancient Celts, tribesmen of Ireland, Great Britian and Northern France celebrated fire in a ritual called Samhain. 2000 years ago, on the eve of their New Year, which occurred on November 1st, the Celts would extinguish the fires in their hearths, and gather round the bonfire centrally located in the midst of their villages.

The first costumes were worn in celebration, not out of fear of the dead, although that would come later. The holloween costumes, then, were vestments, like a priest’s robes. They consisted of tanned animal hides and masks made of wood, leather and real animal bones and teeth, antlers and hooves.

jack o lantern

Living back then, totally reliant upon the gods and goddesses to provide for them, the Celts sacrificed animals and food to the deity of the day a nameless god of fire. In the case of Samhain, the deity became, with Roman influence, called Feralia. It was a day set aside in February to remember the dead. This day was also met with somber sacrifices.

The Catholic church is largely to thank for the current date of Holloween being resurrected. October 31st is the eve of All Saints Day, the day of remembrance of martyrs and saints. Oddly enough, the more glamorous holloween costumes came forth from the religion who’s saints vowed poverty. On All Saints Day, the people would dress up as saints, fairies and fantasy creatures…the very forebear of today’s Holloween Costumes.

As the Celts were conquered or converted the holiday took on another tone. Still associated with the dead, it was no longer acceptable, or believed in, to sacrifice animals to anything. The holiday took on an air of fear, fun and pranking. The Irish kept the holiday “alive”, dressing in costumes to thwart the dead on All Hallow’s Eve. They carried burining embers (reminiscent of the hearth fires in ancient times) in hollowed turnips, the precursers to taday’s jack o’ lanterns. And there was, of course, the pranks that many an Irish child, old and young alike, carried out with glee. It was mostly harmless.

As the Irish peoples immigrated to America, they brought with them the traditions of their home land, including what would become our modern Holloween.

The activities that we enjoy now, every October 31st, including bobbing for apples, begging for candy (or, more rightly, offering not to turn thug on someone if they’ll pay a ransome in fine chocolate or candy corn), the bonfire, the costumes, the celebrations, the frightening and the fun aspects, all of this, we owe to an ancient people who were eradicated by those with opposing religious beliefs.

It makes me glad to see how many churches, at least in the US, have holloween costume contests and holloween parties, themselves, refusing to let the holiday’s pagan origins interfere with some lively entertainment.

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