by Eamonn Doherty
Home >> Fright Night
The ancient Irish called the festival “Samhain” (pronounced “sow -in”, with “sowâ€? rhyming with cow), which is now the Gaelic word for the month of November; although in recent times Hallowe’en is celebrated on October 31st.
The word Hallowe’en is of Scottish origin, and comes from “Hallow’s Evening” (In old English the word ‘Hallow ’ meant ‘sanctify’)
The festival is followed by the Christian festival of All Souls (All Saints in Spain), which falls on the first of November and is usually accompanied by a mid-term break for school children. The idea of this festival was introduced in the 7th century by Pope Boniface IV to replace a Roman festival of the dead. It was observed n May 13. Later, Gregory III changed the date to November 1.
During the ancient Celtic festival, all fires in homes and castles around the country were extinguished, except those of the Druids, or Holy Men.
Offerings were sacrificed to the gods on these fires and the hearths of the ordinary people would be re -lit from these holy pyres.
The custom of lighting a Hallowe’en bonfire continues in some parts to this day and in more modern times has been replaced by fireworks displays.
The sacrifice marked the end of the final harvest period of late summer and the move into the winter season, with the storage of provisions and readying for cold months ahead.
It was believed that the gap between the living world and the spirit world was at its weakest and interaction between these worlds was easiest at this point in the ancient calendar. Souls could wander freely across the earth.
Hallowe’en was also viewed as a time when evil spirits, the devil and witches were at their most powerful.
Nowadays, the festival is characterised by decorations of this sort in their homes, with witches, broom sticks, black cats and vampires being the height of fashion for most children.
Many years ago, it was felt that the baking of pastries and cakes as an offering would help the souls of the dead.
This tradition has also carried through to modern times, with the baking of apple cakes a pastime for many mothers in preparation for a Hallowe’en party.
In our house a Barm Brack was the norm. The Irish term for cake centuries ago was ‘Bairgin’ and if the ‘Bairgin’ contained rich currants and raisins it became a ‘Bairgin Brack’ or speckled cake, now more commonly known as a Barm Brack.
In ancient Ireland, Hallowe’en came close to the feast of St Columba and it was traditional for some people to go from door-to-door collecting bread, money, eggs, nuts and apples.
It was felt that these offerings gave protection against bad luck.
Today, this practice is known as “Trick or Treat”, with the household which gives the least offering liable to have a “trick” carried out against it.
Released under the following licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeriv
You are free to copy, distribute and display the contents of this article but you must give credit to and mention the original author. You are not allowed to use these contents for commercial purposes, and you may not modify them to make any derivative works.
For full licence description, go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.1/es/deed.en
Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2005-10-28 02:00:00 +0200
Copyright (C) ITT (http://www.itt.es) and Planet Lingua (http://www.lingua.es)
We have more weekly letters by Eamonn
Poll for this weekly letter
Do you believe in ghosts, ghoulies or things that go bump in the night?
Licencing
You are free to copy, distribute and display the contents of this article but you must give credit to and mention the original author. You are not allowed to use these contents for commercial purposes, and you may not modify them to make any derivative works.
(click the above link for more information)
Add a comment
Things that go ‘bump’ in the night
Should not really give one a fright.
It’s the hole in each ear
That lets in the fear,
That, and the absence of light!
Spike Milligan
I think that it’s silly the celebration for Spanish people because there isn’t any tradition and it don’t have any meaning. Haloween is only a reason to do a party.
I never have seen a ghost, I don’t know anybody that he has seen someone.
I remember the case about the ghost from Palacio de Linares (Madrid – Spain). When it was in restoration, a worker said that he had seen a ghost. On TV, radios, newspapers,... were speaking a long time about it. The building’s own hired “specialist workers” to see the building a to study the case, finally they said that there was anything about ghost.
I think the ghost are imaginations of the people by they are afraid about some cases, situations,... of the life.
I don’t celebrate Halloween because It ins’t a Spanish tradition. I am agree with Adolfo because it is only a way for having parties.
These days Spanish children have to dress up with dark clothes and make-up because in the school they have the Halloween’s day. This is an American tradition and we are losing our own celebrations.
We have a tradition in Alcala de Henares where some people every year perform Don Juan Tenorio in the streets the nights of 1 and 2 of November. Maybe, this is not so interesting for teenagers.
Do I believe in ghosts? I believe that there is something around us and we aren’t able to see it. What is it? I don’t know, maybe are the ghosts?
Hallowe´en party is not for Spanish children. This party is a tradition from England.The Spanish people has San Juan on June 24th.When I was in England I lived the Hollowen in 1996.I enjoied so much, I dressed with a long,black skirt and a t-shirt.My face was painted in white and black colours.However in Spain when I was twelve years old my mother put me a mask in Hollowen and I was ready to go from door to door collecting chocolates, eggs and money.
Hi,
I agree with most of your opinions: Halloween is not a typical Spanish celebration. However, it is becoming more popular every year, probably only be thanks to commercial reasons. This weekend, for example, I saw many shops decorated with commonly associated Halloween symbols, and most of these shops where toyshops or similar.
I would recommend you reading the following WEB page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack-o%27-lantern. You will find a short explanation about the custom of decorating pumpkin with such strange forms.
Best regards,
Almudena
I don’t understand why do you think Hallowen is not suitable in Spain because it’s an anglo celebration. I think that anglos and spanish celebrate the same ancient roman feast, a pagan day that was transformed in every culture. The fact that Hallowen celebration is more common now, it’s because we are changing our rural traditions for urban culture. Do you imagine burning an oil lamp in the night before november the first, in the same way that my grandmother did? Think about other celebrations like mother’s day, a well known commercial invention well established in Spain.
As an American, I find it very strange to see our traditions catch on in the rest of the world (and which ones; Thanksgiving has never and will never become any sort of celebration here). I doubt that Halloween in Spain will ever have the importance or widespread celebration that it has in English-speaking countries. I am not sure that it calls for a cultural debate. The adoption of other cultures’ traditions does not necessarily undermine traditions already existing in a culture.
You could say that I am “anti-globalisation” but I constantly wonder why it is that “American” or “Anglo” traditions catch on everywhere and Spanish traditions tend to stay right here. Can anybody answer my question? It is that the Spanish are bad salespeople? Or is it an evil American plot to take over the world holiday by holiday?
I’m not a Halloween fan, either, but that’s because I’m not a very social person. I avoid parties and celebrations as much as possible, independently of which country they come from. Have you read “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens? Well, I have always identified myself strongly with the character Scrooge. Why is he the bad one?
Do you mean that your neighbours actually gave you chocolates, eggs and money? How strange! I don’t know any Spanish group of people that celebrate Halloween. The only Spanish people I know who celebrate Halloween do it privately, only at home.
Who are you talking to? Who is ‘you’?
After reading the article I found out that Halloween has an Scotish origin, I thought it came from the US . Anyways, for me, the origin of this celebration is uncertain since I don’t belive in ghosts or anything like that.
Whether we like it or not, in Spain we are completely immersed in the American-English culture: we watch their TV shows, their cartoons, we eat at McDonals, drink Coca-Cola and also, celebrate Halloween.
I think that Halloween, as a pagan celebration has been increasing its popularity over the past decade on the detriment of the religious celebration of the day of All Saints. In Spain there are Halloween parties almost anywhere, it is just another excuse to have fun and go out.
I don’t really pay too much attention to this “special dates” and celebrations but I understand it is a nice celebration for kids.
I think that all the things we are supposed to do in Halloween is made up by companies with an economic interest behind this date, that’s how I see it!
The origin of Halloween isn’t Scottish but Celtic. Remember that long ago in Ireland they celebrated Halloween, too, but it was called “Samhain”. Do you know if Halloween was celebrated in Galicia and Asturias?
After all, I personally prefer All Souls to Halloween – it’s the day we have a holiday!