Celebrating the History of Halloween

Cultural and Food Traditions

By Antonia Demas, Ph.D.

“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.”

– Stephen King

Carved rutabaga and turnips
Forerunner of Jack-O-Lanterns

Most children, when asked, name Halloween as their favorite holiday. Yet do they know that Halloween has deep roots in ancient cultures that involve the harvest, honoring the dead, and rituals from the past? Halloween can be traced to an ancient Celtic festival named for Samhain, the Lord of the Dead. Samhain was the god of cold and darkness who ruled the earth for six months. During his rule, the earth died, crops could not grow, and the sun lost its power to bring life. Samhain means “summers end” and it marked the beginning of the New Year in the Celtic calendar.

The Celtic calendar year began on November 1. On the eve of Samhain’s period of rule, there was chaos and drama. Samhain called together all the wicked souls that had been condemned within the past six months for their evil deeds. He had the wicked souls inhabit the bodies of animals on this night, and they came back to earth to terrify the living.

The soul of anyone who had died over the past year was allowed to visit his/her relatives on the last day of the year, October 31. The spirits could warm themselves at the hearth and enjoy the smell of food. Sometimes they played tricks on their visits. To appease the spirits and prevent them from creating mischief, the Druids, who were the Celtic priests, made them offerings. These offerings were first in the form of human sacrifices. Prisoners of war or criminals would be selected for the task of satisfying the dead souls. They would be placed in wicker or thatch baskets crudely formed in the shape of animals and burned alive or ritualistically executed. It was believed that the more victims there were, the more fertile the land would be (Burdick 1905:181). This of course is literally true in terms of the value of human ash as a soil enrichment even though we don’t like to view ourselves as compost or fertilizer.

The Druids performed another important service at Samhain. They were responsible for lighting new fires for the year. This was done by rubbing together pieces of the sacred oak. People would clean out their hearths and start the New Year with a fire kindled by their priest which was to bring them good luck for the year. The fire would burn continuously until the next autumn festival. People were getting ready to spend a lot of time indoors during the cold months and it was sensible to clean out the ash and debris from the past year.

As part of Samhain, great bonfires were built at dusk in fields to scare away the evil spirits. The fires protected the people from the forces of evil. They also fertilized the soil with their ashes and provided heat to keep people warm.

A farmer would sometimes light a small fire of his own in one of his fields, and when it was burning well and fiercely, would take a mass of flaming straw from it upon a pitchfork and carry it up to the highest point of the ground. There he flung it as far as he could over the land, to purify the soil and guard it against evil, and to make the crops grow in due course. (Hole 1975:98)

Young men built fires out of “peat, straw, furze, and potato haulm”. When the fire died down, the ashes were scattered over the entire field, the young men competing to see which one could kick the most ash over the greatest area. (Banks 1941:118) Pitchforks of hay aflame would be waved in the air to scare away the evil spirits.

With so many spirits in the air, Samhain was seen as a time for fortune telling and predicting the future. If the spirits were treated well, they might help with magic, if treated poorly, they could bring bad luck for the year.

Samhain was not just a time for wandering souls and sacrifices. It was also the harvest festival. This was celebrated with feasting and agricultural traditions. Everyone would come together for the sacrifices and the feasts to ensure fertility of the crops and herds. In Celtic mythology, the tribal god and the earth mother would engage in intercourse at this time to ensure fertility of the people and the land. (Cunliffe 1979:72)

This was the time of year when animals were brought in from the pastures. The continued grazing of meadows after the hay harvest would harm the fields and ruin the next years hay crop. (Orwin 1949:17) The livestock was rounded up and it was decided which ones would be kept for breeding over the winter. Culling of herds was necessary since only the wealthy could afford to feed livestock over winter. The ability to grow and store enough grain for animal consumption was a problem for the common man. The rest were slaughtered at this time for winter consumption and “salted down.” (Spence 1971:99) Winter was the logical time to slaughter animals since preservation of meat was much safer during the cold months.

The heads and skins of the slaughtered animals would be worn as disguises for those participating in a procession on Samhain. This festival was a time for masquerading and communal activities. The villagers would gather together to try to ward off the powers of evil. Farmers would place bells on their cows at this time to keep witches at bay. On a very practical level, perhaps it had more to do with alerting them to cattle rustlers or wolves, both threats to their remaining stock. Crossed branches of ash and juniper were placed over the stable doors as a symbol of protection and good luck.

Samhain marked the time when food amassed and stored over the summer was first opened for consumption. It was also a time when land tenures and service agreements were renewed. The ripened grain was harvested and stored. Thanksgiving was given for the harvest and feasting took place. The spiritual life of the people was manifested in traditions based on food and agriculture during this transitional time of year.

Roman and Christian Adaptations
When the Romans invaded the Celtic world during the first century B.C., many soldiers stayed on in the new land. The Romans had festivals of their own for this time of year that they brought with them. The Feralia in late October was a time to honor the dead. Pomona was the Roman goddess of fruit and there was a celebration in her honor every November. She symbolized the harvest and people laid out apples and nuts for Pomona to thank her for the harvest. Pomona was courted by the rural gods and had offers of love from Pan, Silvanus and Vertumnus. Vertumnus was the god of gardens and changing seasons. He wooed her in various forms — as a reaper, vine dresser, fisherman, and soldier. Finally disguised as an old woman, he advised her to accept Vertumnus and when she did, he then appeared. The Feralia and harvest festival of Pomona merged with Samhain to be celebrated on November 1 by Roman and Celt alike.

Apples, native to Kazakhstan & Central Asia have grown since ancient times and their cultivation has spread to countries all over the world. While there are thousands of varieties, about 30 are grown commercially.

Pomona Roman Goddess of the Orchard

With the advent of Christianity, the Christian priests did everything they could to get rid of pagan customs. It was hard to convince the Celtic and Roman people that the gods and practices they believed in were evil. In A.D. 601, Pope Gregory the First issued an edict to his missionaries ordering them to incorporate the native customs of those they hoped to convert rather than attempt to obliterate or co-opt deeply entrenched traditions. For example, rather than prohibit all animal sacrifices, it was allowed to sacrifice oxen, then to be consumed. In the words of Pope Gregory, “They are no longer to sacrifice beasts to the Devil, but they may kill them for food to the praise of God and give thanks to the giver of all gifts for His bounty.” (Hole 1975:98) This proved to be a much more successful method of gaining converts and Samhain and the harvest festival of Pomona melded with Christianity. The Christian church set aside November 1 as All Saints’ Day in the Seventh century. This was a day to honor all the Saints who had died for their beliefs, and a chapel in Rome was built at St. Peters for this purpose. Another name for All Saints was All Hallows. October 31 was known as All Hallows’ Eve, which was later shortened to Halloween. November 2 was named in the tenth century as a day to honor the souls of all the dead, especially those who had died during the previous year. The church officially recognized it as All Souls’ Day. Thus, the pagan Lord of the Dead became officially merged with the Christian celebration of the dead. The holiday lost some of its roots as a harvest festival and became a time to honor and fear the dead.

Day of the Dead

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For approximately 3,000 years parts of Central and South America have celebrated the Day of the Dead, Día de Los Muertos, usually on November 1 & 2 to honor their deceased loved ones. Though there are several similarities between the two holidays such as the dates coinciding, the Day of the Dead is not part of Halloween and is a joyful rather than a scary event. Bright cheerful colors are featured, altars are prepared, and visits are made to the cemetery to commune with the dead. People bring food, music, and flowers to commemorate their relatives. It is meant to be a time for remembrance and positive thoughts. Colorful sugar masks are often worn, or their designs are made into masks or painted on faces. Dancing takes place as music is performed. In Guatemala large colorful kites are flown. Rather than being a time to fear the dead, this is a time to regard them with reverence. Special foods to bring to the altars include tamales and chocolate cookies to be accompanied with hot chocolate. The European early food tradition has been to prepare shortbread soul cakes accompanied by apple cider to appease the dead, so they won’t be vengeful and play tricks on you. In North America the Halloween tradition has become very commercial and prepared, wrapped candy is given to children who rarely are taught the traditions these practices evolved from.

Witches and Black Cats
The Christians believed in witches and thought they were women who sold themselves to the devil. In A.D. 14, Augustus Caesar banned witches for fear they may aid his rivals. Actually, the women believed to be witches were healers, (similar to the Hispanic “curanderas”), women living on the fringes of society who concocted herbal mixtures or told fortunes but were not actively discriminated against. In fact, the witch cults were one place where women were treated as equals. Black cats were the witches’ mascots or else witches in disguise. Throughout the Middle Ages black cats were thrown into fires on Halloween. The witches danced on hilltops with goblins and imps on Halloween while the devil played bagpipes or castanets made from dead men’s bones. It was thought that witches held large meetings or Sabbaths on October 31 where they danced wildly in a ring, concocted their brew, and sang songs. Some thought that human babies were stolen for the brew. Shakespeare’s Macbeth offers a recipe for witch’s brew:

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Crystal ball

Foods and Fore-telling
Food played a major role in much of the lore and customs surrounding Halloween celebrations. While recipes from the Celts are not part of the archaeological record, they do remain from the Middle Ages. Soul cakes were baked in remembrance of the dead. Soul cakes were flat, round, or oval shortbread cakes, heavily laced with spices. It is of interest to note that spices act as preservatives and when baking was done, pre-BHT and refrigeration era, this was an important consideration. The souls who came to visit were offered soul cakes and children would go from door to door begging for soul cakes to feed to the visiting souls. In exchange for the soul cakes the children would promise that they would say extra prayers for the deceased. Those who had none to give might very well have tricks played on them. This practice was the forerunner to trick-or-treating. These cakes offered to the dead became the substitute for the human sacrifices offered during an earlier time.

Soul cakes

Soul Cakes
The custom of leaving out offerings of food for the souls continued after Christianity. A feast would be left on the table while the family went to church to pray for the dead souls. This was one time that the door would be left unlocked. When the family returned, the food would be gone, and this was a good sign — the souls were happy and would not bother that family. However, the “souls” became greedy and items such as the family silver began disappearing along with the food and this tradition was discontinued. (Barth 1972:62)

Agricultural symbols became an important means of predicting the future. In Ireland a traditional meal served on October 31 was colcannon. This was a dish consisting of mashed potatoes, parsnips, or cabbage, and chopped onions. In it were hidden different items and it was believed that whoever served themselves the spoonful with a certain item in it, would have their fate sealed for the rest of the year. A ring stood for marriage, a thimble meant the recipient would never marry, a doll; children, and a coin meant wealth.

Mulled cider, apple faced Iroquois doll, baked apples

Apples and nuts became traditional foods to Halloween celebrations, and this dates to the harvest festival honoring Pomona. Bobbing for apples became a popular game as did some other practices to predict the future. An apple would be pared in one continuous length; then twirled around the head three times and dropped over the left shoulder. On the ground whatever letter the apple peeling looked the most like would be the initial of the future lover. This ditty would be chanted in the process:

I pare this pippin round and round again,
My sweetheart’s name to flourish on the plain:
I fling the unbroken paring o’er my head,
My sweetheart’s letter on the ground to read.

Apple seeds would be named for two lovers, and one placed on each eyelid. The one that fell first would be the unfaithful lover and the true love was the one that stayed the longest. Apples were seen as a symbol of fertility and love. Hebrew women would wash themselves in a mixture of water and the sap from an apple tree if they wanted to conceive children.

Nuts, symbols of life and fertility, were also an important means of predicting the future. In Britain, they were featured so much in the holiday that it became known as Nutcrack Night. Two nuts would be named after a couple and placed side by side by the fire. If they crackled or moved the couple could expect quarrels and divorce. If they remained side by side, a long and happy marriage could be expected.

Cabbages also played a prominent role in determining one’s future. Couples would walk together blindfolded into the vegetable garden. They would each pull up a stalk of cabbage or kale. The size and shape of the stalk would indicate the size and shape of the future spouse. To find out who the spouse would be, the stalk would be hung over the door with a row of others. The position in line would be given a number such as three. The third man to walk through the door would be the future spouse.

Turnips and rutabagas held a place in Halloween folklore through Jack-‘O-Lanterns. Rutabagas, members of the brassica family also called “Swedes”, are thought to be a mix between turnips and cabbage, cold weather crops that could be stored over winter.

The origin of Jack-O-Lanterns dates to a story about a man named Jack. He was a very stingy guy and at one time had the nerve to play a trick on the devil. This of course made the devil very angry, and the devil proclaimed that he would never allow Jack to enter hell when he died. Jack, a mere mortal, did die and since he was such a miserable person, had no hope of entering heaven. He went to the gates of hell and tried to get in. The devil refused him entrance. Jack was eating a turnip at the time by digging it out with a spoon. Once the devil rejected him, he turned around and walked away, not quite knowing what to do. The devil threw a burning coal at him for good riddance, and it landed in the turnip and lit it up. Jack is said to wander the earth with his turnip lantern, forever in a state of limbo. Once the New World crops were discovered by the Europeans, pumpkins became the natural replacement for turnips and rutabagas as they were much easier to carve.

Potato Varieties

Red, purple, yellow, orange, and white potatoes

Potatoes tend to be associated with Ireland, but they are actually a New World crop from Peru in South America. There are over 4,000 varieties of potatoes in South America. The Peruvians who live in the Andes Mountains rather than the coast had a unique method of preserving potatoes. Winters are cold and snowy in the Andes because of the high elevation, so to preserve potatoes for winter, a method of dehydration was used. First the potatoes would be left out in the cold to freeze overnight. As they thawed in the sun the next morning, the women would stomp on them with their bare feet to squeeze out the water. This process would be repeated for several days until they were left with chuno, freeze-dried potato starch. The dried potatoes could then be stored for future use.

Potatoes at first were not accepted in Europe, a strange idea considering how ubiquitous they are in contemporary European, especially Irish, cuisines. At first the people in Europe thought potatoes were poisonous. Like tomatoes, they belong to the nightshade family (in the genus solanum), and some plants in the family are completely poisonous to humans, such as belladonna and deadly nightshade. In both potatoes and tomatoes, the part of the plant that we don’t eat is poisonous. Other edible nightshades are eggplant and peppers, but we can only safely eat part of the plant. It is interesting to think about how the same plant can have parts that are both poisonous and beneficial.

It is also interesting to look at the long and rocky road to acceptance of different food crops. In Ireland, so the story goes, a king devised a plan to get the masses to accept potatoes since they were easy to grow and could be stored in a root cellar during the winter. The king planted a crop of potatoes in a field and placed guards around the field. His subjects thought that it must be an extremely valuable crop for the king to pay guards to protect it. So, the people snuck into the field in the middle of the night and stole some of the potatoes to see what was so valuable about them. They discovered that not only could they eat them and not die, but also, they tasted good. The people then accepted potatoes as a food and grew them as a mainstay of their diet. But the Irish became so dependent upon potatoes in their diet that when a disease called the potato blight ruined the crop, there was mass starvation because they were not growing enough other crops.

Halloween did not become a popular holiday in the United States until the Irish Potato Famine, starting in 1846, brought waves of Irish immigrants across the ocean. They brought with them some of the customs we associate with Halloween that appeal to many, based on traditions from the past. Pumpkins, a New World crop, were much easier to carve than turnips and rutabagas. They are ready for harvest in late October and became a symbol for Halloween, honoring the tale of Jack and his lantern, and representing many of the stories from the past.

Happy Halloween!

Recipes

Colcannon

Ingredients
6 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 cups shredded cabbage or parsnips
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup plant-based milk (optional)
salt/pepper to taste
1 T. chopped parsley
1 T. minced garlic clove

Materials: 2 pans for steaming (potatoes & cabbage/parsnip/onion), Large bowl for mashing, Potato masher, Knife, 1 Wooden spoon

Directions
1. Steam potatoes until tender. Mash and add plant-based milk, salt & pepper and garlic.
2. Steam cabbage or parsnips and onion together for about 15 minutes.
3. Stir cabbage/onion mixture into potatoes. Top with parsley.
4. Optional: Hide foretelling items in the mixture. Wrap in foil if necessary.

Colcannon can be made with purple potatoes, purple onion and purple cabbage. You can have a white or purple version and/or a mix for contrast.

Mulled Cider

Ingredients
1 gallon apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
1 t. whole cloves
1 t. allspice

Directions
Pour the cider into a large pan. Add spices and simmer for 5 – 10 minutes.

NOTE: For special effects, hollow out a large pumpkin and carve out some shapes close to the top. Place the hot cider in the pumpkin, add a piece of dry ice, and place the lid on. Steam will pour out of the carved spaces for a spooky effect.

Baked Apples

Ingredients
20 apples
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds or a combination)
1 cup raisins or currants
2 T. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
1 cup maple syrup

Materials: Apple corer, Bowl & spoon, Baking pan

Directions
1. Wash apples and remove core.
2. Mix nuts, raisins, and spices together.
3. In a baking pan, place nut mixture in the core of each apple. Dribble maple syrup over the top of the stuffed apples.
5. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Soul Cakes

Ingredients
½ cup vegan butter
½ cup maple syrup or powered sugar (optional)
2 ½ cups flour
1 t. allspice
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. ground cloves
½ t. almond extract
½ cup ground nuts and whole nuts to decorate

Directions
1. Cream the vegan butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice until fluffy. Add the almond extract.
2. Stir in the flour and chill for several hours.
3. Roll out dough to ¼ or ½ inch thickness. Cut into ovals or circles with a knife or cookie cutter.
4. Decorate with nuts.
5. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 300 for about 20 minutes. (Makes about 30)

Materials: Bowl Electric beater or wooden paddle for mixing Rolling Pin, Cookie Sheets, Cookie cutters or knife

Bibliography
Banks, M. Macleod, British Calendar Customs, Folk-Lore Society, London, 1941.
Barth, Edna, Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts, The Story of the Halloween Symbols, Seabury Press, N.Y., 1972.
Borten, Helen, Halloween, Thomas Crowell Co., N.Y., 1965.
Burdick, Lewis Dayton, Magic and Husbandry, The Folk-Lore of Agriculture, The Otseningo Publishing Co., Binghamton, N.Y., 1905.
Cunliffe, Barry, The Celtic World, McGraw-Hill, N.Y., 1979.
Epstein, Sam & Beryl, European Folk Festivals, Garrard Publishing Co., Champaign, Illinois, 1968.
Green, Miranda, The Gods of the Celts, Alan Sutton, Gloucester, 1986.
Hale, Christine, British Folk Customs, Hutchinson & Co., London,1976.
Henig, Martin, Religion in Roman Britain, St. Martin’s Press, N.Y., 1984.
Hole, Christina, English Traditional Customs, B.T. Batsford Ltd, London & Sydney, 1975.
Hatch, Jane M., The American Book of Days, H. Wilson Co., N.Y., 1978.
Helfman, Elizabeth S., Celebrating Nature, Rites and Ceremonies Around the World, The Seabury Press, N.Y., 1969.
James,E.O., Seasonal Feasts and Festivals, Barnes & Noble, Inc., N.Y., 1961. Krythe, Maymie, R., American Holidays, Harpers & Brothers, N.Y., 1962. MacCana, Proinsias, Celtic Mythology, Hamlyn Publishing, London, 1970. Murray, Jacqueline, The First European Agriculture, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1970.
Myers, Robert, Celebrations, Doubleday & Co. Inc., 1972.
Orwin, C.S., A History of English Farming, Thomas Nelson and Sons, LTD, London, 1949.
Price, Nancy, Pagan’s Progress, Museum Press, Limited, London, 1954
Ross, Anne, Pagan Celtic Britain, Butler & Tanner Limited, London, 1967. Rutherford, Ward, The Druids and their Heritage, Gordon & Cremonesi,London & N.Y., 1978.
Santino, Jack, “Night of the Wandering Souls,” Natural History, November, 1983, p.43-50.
Spence, Lewis, The History and Origins of Druidism, The Aquarian Press, London, 1971.
Spicer, Dorothy, Yearbook of English Festivals, H.W. Wilson Co., N.Y., 1954. Suilleabhain, Sean O., A Handbook of Irish Folklore, Herbert Jenkins, London, 1963.
White, K.D., Roman Farming, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y., 1970.

Photos by Ariel Demas or available in the public domain

We thank Wegman’s Grocery for donating some of the ingredients

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Celebrating the History of Halloween

Cultural and Food Traditions

Happy Halloween!

Recipes

Colcannon

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