( Note: I wrote this piece a few years back. republishing it with a few changes)
To me, Halloween is a day to revisit a few horror and slasher movies that are based on this legend, or pick up Bramstoker’s Dracula, or Lovecraft’s dark stories and read a few pages. What is the day all about? Buried in layers of myth, the origins of this curious day celebrated with masks and costumes is more a pagan ritual, than Christian in origin. The Christians observed Halloween to celebrate memories of their departed saints. “Hallow” of Halloween comes from the word “Holy” and “een” indicates the evening before. Therefore Halloween is the day we pay our gratitude to all the good souls and the saints before the arrival of all-Saint days ( the next day) – a popular Christian commemoration established by Pope Gregory around the 8th century AD. But legends of its origin go further back in history when Christianity was not yet an established religion, and faith was rooted in nature worship and its cyclic rhythms. The Celtics ( The original inhibitors of the landmass of Britain) believed that this was the time of year when the veil between the human world and the netherworld blurred out, and evil spirits – who during their earthly tenure – did not do well could make their way back to our side. Therefore, It was a day to be cautious and on guard for any dangerous intrusions from those departed souls who mean nothing but trouble. The ritual of wearing terrifying costumes is to fool such evil spirits into believing that we were one of them – an unappeased spirit.
The lighted pumpkin is perhaps the most visible symbol of Halloween. The legend behind the presence of this curious artifact during Halloween is an Irish tradition. It was about a drunkard named Jack O’Lantern who supposedly arrested the devil in the bark of a tree and nailed a cross to prevent his escape. The cunning devil, however, entered into an agreement with our hero that, if he would be released from this bondage, he would never claim his soul. Jack accepted the gracious offer, released the devil, and began to live a profligate life. Upon Jack’s death, he couldn’t go to heaven because of the sins of earth, and unusually, the devil he had released also kept his word by not claiming him. The Devil being the devil threw burning coal at Jack to drive him away. Jack’s spirit smartly dodged the fire, collected the blazing coal, and placed it in a large turnip for use as a lantern. Legend has it that Jack still wanders with a lighted lantern searching for a final resting place. Over time, the myth clarifies that the turnip transformed itself into a carved pumpkin ( these things can happen in a myth). Pumpkins are better suited to handle a burning coal than a small turnip. Pumpkins are fat, oddly good-looking, and orangish – matching the color of the flame. Halloween pumpkins are also spooky-looking in a way that is hard to describe. If you look at them closely enough, it mysteriously begins to resemble the face of someone you dislike. Try it for yourself, if you haven’t.
Apples have also played an important role during Halloween. As an aid to finding the right spouse for oneself, eligible girls would mark an apple and let it float in a tub of water. Boys would dip their heads in the water hoping to take a bite of the apple. It is a difficult activity if you have ever tried it, and those who are lucky to do so get the girl. It is interesting that parallels to this ritual are found in Indian marriages where the bride and the groom search for rings dropped into a pot of milk. To skeptics, these childish displays of meaningless beliefs would seem primitive; but that is what it exactly is – a return to primitiveness, a natural state of being, a dropping of our intellectual boundaries, and giving oneself into the hands of something unfathomable – that which cannot be rationalized.
The trick-or-treat, the heart of Halloween celebrations, especially for kids, is an act of communal joy. In its modern avatar, children are paraded across the neighborhood in spooky costumes to scare inmates until they are rewarded. In earlier days, it was grown-up Men and women, who went about knocking at doors offering prayers in exchange for “soul cakes”. The practice of wearing costumes, dancing on the streets, and letting down one’s inhibitions, is as old as human nature itself. There is an indescribable joy in hiding behind a mask and doing things that we wouldn’t dare to do otherwise. In her wonderful study of communal joy in the book “Dancing in the Streets”, Barbara Ehrenreich writes “The urge to transform one’s appearance, to dance outdoors, to mock the powerful and embrace perfect strangers is not easy to suppress”. Halloween parties are essentially costume parties, where the point is to hide our social selves and transform into somebody else, possibly a little wilder and carefree than we are normally known for. That joy of living a different persona, even if it be for a few hours, can be refreshingly therapeutic. Halloween costume parties are a big hit across the world. Letting go of oneself, breaking loose of one’s personality, and becoming the “other” for at least some time is a primeval human activity.
I don’t know if you have noticed, but the sound of the word “Halloween”, if pronounced with enough gravitas and in a baritone voice, can send a chill through the spine. Horror fiction writers and moviemakers love the atmosphere of the darkness of Halloween to stage their frightful stories. It gives them the perfect setting and license to unleash the basest forces within man. For serial killers, paranormal activities, possessions, and resurrection from the dead – Halloween is the day. The slashing legend of Michael Myers, the bloodthirsty doll in Child’s Play, the demonic possession in Exorcist, the vengeance of Stephen King’s Carrie, the weirdness of Poltergeist, the horrid tales of werewolves – all of them, in one way or the other, are inspired by the night of Halloween. If you have happened to watch enough of these movies, It would seem morally right and justified to kill on Halloween night.
Happy and dangerous Halloween everybody. Have fun while evil last.
Interesting read! Surprisingly, kids these days even in a place like Delhi are celebrating it, without knowing or having the curiosity to know where the tradition comes from.
And to the ones who read about it and know…Treat it is ! 😀