Skull on My Porch

I remember one time Halloween fell on a Sunday when I was a kid. Since I didn’t have to go to school first, I thought I could get an earlier start treat-or-treating and haul in an extra bag or two of candy.

This idea was shot down when Halloween Sunday arrived. At 11:00 in the morning a young treat-or-treating “witch” or whatever -- apparently thinking like I was -- turned up at our doorstep, and was turned away by my dad. It was simply too early, he said, and it smacked of greed. More importantly, it was Sunday, first and foremost, and stupid old Halloween simply didn’t fit.

In hindsight I see how correct my dad was, whether he knew it or not. Halloween had its origins in Gaelic (Irish) pagan ritual, which existed long before Saint Patrick came to Ireland and converted everybody to Catholicism. I came from an Irish family, but they were quite Catholic, hardly interested in ancient Gaelic ways.

I recently checked out a website dedicated to old Gaelic culture, which described, among many other things, the 4 seasonal observances of the ancient Gaels. The website said --

"The ancestors celebrated the 4 solar events associated with the
pastoral people that inhabited the Isles before the coming of the
Roman, Saxon, and Angles. These times are commonly
referred to as the Samhain, Oimelc, Beltinna, and Lughnasdh."

Samhain (Gaelic for “summer’s end” -- pronounced SAH - win) was the last harvest observance, on Oct 31 - Nov 1. Back then as much as ever, the four seasons mirrored the advance and decline of life itself on earth, and Samhain was the darkest, most death-oriented observance. It’s opposite observance was Beltinna, on May 1, which celebrated light, the return of the long Sun, and new life.

There was supposedly a protective sheath, separating the living “earth” world from the spirit world. This sheath was at its thinnest around Samhain. Spirits of the Dear and not-so-Dear Departed were particularly accessible, and things got very spooky.

After sunset, outdoor bonfires were maintained, to ward off evil spirits and invite good spirits. Spirits of departed loved ones were thought to revisit their old earthly homes. People prayed to these spirits, asked them for advice, left food out for them, put candles at their graves. They even dug up the actual skulls and displayed them in front of their houses, to keep away the evil spirits -- eventually this gross practice was replaced by the display of Jack O’Lanterns.

That’s just a sampling. Throw in the Germanic (European mainland) traditions and you have a ton of superstitious (?) ideas which eventually developed into Halloween. Strip away all the spooky stuff, and it was still - basically - an observance of change of season, appreciation for the harvest, preparation for the cold months, and a hope for future blessings.

In today’s America, strip away the commercialism, the costumes, horror movies, haunted houses and other manufactured scariness -- and you have - basically - NOTHING . I would expect any present-day pagans to be pretty turned off to the whole thing. Not that I know any present-day pagans.

It’s windy and very nippy out there as I type this, and tonight it should be downright wintry. Up here in the woods on Halloween Sunday, perhaps I’ll turn off the World Series for a while, put on an overcoat and step into that pitch darkness, imagining the bonfires, the black and orange landscape, the thin sheath separating the living and spirit worlds, the primitive fear and awe.

In fact, I think I’ll step outside right now. There’s a few hours of daylight left. According to that Gaelic website -- if you catch a falling leaf before it hits the ground on Samhain, you will have good luck and health for the coming winter. Might be worth a try.