What is the history of Halloween, All Hallows’ Eve, Samhain, Day of the Dead?!
Halloween dates back to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced Sowin), which was a New Year celebration. It marked the end of summer, the harvest, and the beginning of winter, associated with darkness and death. It was believed that the night before the New Year, the boundary between the living and the dead was blurred and ghosts returned to earth, which made it an easier time for divination and prophecy. There would be massive bonfires, costumes and fortune-telling. Each person would carry home a bit of the bonfire to light their hearth fires at the end of the celebration to protect them from the coming winter.
When the Roman Empire conquered Celtic territory, this tradition was combined with the Roman Feralia, also a day in late October to commemorate the dead, which honored Pomona, the Roman Goddess of fruit and trees, including apples, a seasonal fruit. Eventually the church combined it with an All Martyrs and Saints celebration which turned to All Souls Day, All Saints Day, then All Hallows’ Eve, and eventually Halloween.
Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, dates back 3000 years to the Aztecs in central Mexico, also a traditional ritual to honor the dead which was celebrated in August, that shifted timelines with Spanish influence in Mexico. The tradition allows spirits of children to rejoin their families for 24 hours, spirits of adults following. Family members aid the deceased in this journey between worlds with altars and offrendas.
It is said at this time of year, the veil between this world and the other side thins, and it is time to connect to ancestors, saints, and souls of the dead. It is a time for divination, mediumship, and ancestor veneration.
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