It’s 31st October, and all I can hear in the streets is “Happy Halloween!” and “trick or treat”. It’s already dark outside when I arrive home from work, and the streets are flocked by groups of children in scary costumes. They excitedly go from house to house to collect chocolate and candies in their bags. They don’t knock on each door, but only where there is a sign outside. This sign is either just a jack-o-lantern in the door, or can be a sophisticated decoration of the garden and the house. So the children are so scary, that when people open the door for them and hear them saying “trick or treat”, they rather give them a loads of sweets just not to get tricked. 🙂
In my area, there are quite a few houses that take part in the fun, some take it really seriously with the decoration, some of them do it less. As it’s not a tradition in Hungary at all, I couldn’t relate to it easily, and didn’t really understand how much it means to the people here, especially for the children. Now that I went out and walked around, I saw how excited they are about it: wearing costumes, finding the houses where they could get treats, knocking on the doors and playing “trick or treat”; these all bring so much joy for them. Especially if the house is decorated with spider webs, skeletons, pumpkins, spiders, ghosts, etc., that give the impression as if they knocked on the door of a haunted house. I had never thought before, but being outside actually brought me in the mood, and I could feel the excitement on my skin.
For those, who see Halloween as a silly American tradition that is becoming trendy in many other countries, I would like to tell briefly about its origins. For example, in Hungary, where we have a very different holiday at this time of the year, some people like to criticise the concept of Halloween without knowing anything about it. Of course, for me 1st November will always be the day when we go to the cemetery, light candles, and remember our dead loved ones. However, I can see nothing bad in knowing about another tradition, and respect that this day means different things for people of Anglo-Saxon cultures, and if they celebrate differently than we do.
The origins of Halloween can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (so nothing to do with America!). Until 2,000 years ago, the Celts lived in today’s Britain, Ireland and northern France. They were farming and agricultural people, and the Pre-Christian Celtic year was determined by the growing seasons. Samhain marked the end of summer and the harvest, and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. The festival symbolised the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The Celts believed that on the night of 31st October, ghosts of their dead would revisit the mortal world, and large bonfires were lit in each village to ward off any evil spirits that may also come back. Celtic priests, the Druids ensured that the hearth fire of each house was re-lit from the glowing embers of the sacred bonfire, in order to help protect the people, and keep them warm through the forthcoming long, dark winter months.
Then the Christians arrived to these territories in the 6-7th century, bringing the Christian festivals in, amongst them “All Hallows’ Day”, also known as “All Saints Day”, a day to remember those who had died for their beliefs. Moving it from 13th May to 1st November in the 8th century, the Pope probably wanted to replace or assimilate the Celtic Samhain festival of the dead with this similar Christian one. So it eventually became a special time of the year when many believe that the spirit world can make contact with the physical world.
I think the idea behind the Hungarian All Saint’s Day and Halloween is the same. It’s the day when the world of the living and the dead meet. In Hungary, we go to our dead ones to light candles and bring flowers for them, and we remember them quietly. In the Anglo-Saxon world, the dead relatives visit us in the living world as ghosts, and it’s considered rather a celebration than a sad moment. After all, we should be happy that they come back to us on this special night. All in all, it’s almost the same thing but from different perspectives and with different ways of celebration, which we shouldn’t judge but rather respectfully understand the rational behind it.
And why trick or treat this night? Children declared one ‘lawless night’ of unpunished pranks in the early England. Then in the late 19th century, the Irish belief that ‘the little people’ or fairies played pranks on Halloween, led boys and young men to carry out practical jokes on that night. Then Irish people took this tradition to America, so did it spread.