Free Post: Halloween History

Before I forget, I'm just going to mention that I misspelled the title as "Halloweed" rather than "Halloween." There's an idea in there just waiting to be developed. But that's irrelevant to my post. Forgive me.

As I hope you're all aware, a week from tomorrow is Halloween. However, I'm not entirely sure whether all of you are aware of the specifics of the holiday's origins. For those of you unaware, Halloween is perhaps Ireland's biggest export. Most aspects of Halloween we take for granted today came straight out of the island my grandparents called home. So, where does Halloween come from? The holiday itself is the evolved form of a harvest festival known as Samhain, which signified the end of the Celtic year. Samhain, lasting from sundown on October 31st to sundown the next day, was akin to today's Thanksgiving, with the Celts lighting bonfires to frighten away witches and demons. Later, when the Celtic world converted to Christianity, the first night became known as All Hallows' Eve; All Hallows' Day, better known as All Saints' Day (the Latin American Day of the Dead), was November first. Throughout Europe, but particularly in Spain and Ireland, it was believed that the souls of the dead, could return to their old homes. Only trick-or-treating, which was developed in Scotland, inhabited by ethnically Irish individuals (the Scots were a tribe from the north of Ireland who invaded Alba, the land know known as Scotland), originated outside of Ireland.

Perhaps the most intriguing Irish aspect of Halloween is the origin of the jack-o'-lantern. There are several different versions of the story, and nobody who knows of it seems to agree on what the true version is. All of the versions involve a character known as Stingy Jack, who tricks the devil in some way. In one version, Jack is a lazy farmer who tricks Satan into climbing an apple tree, which he proceeds to carve a crucifix on, rendering the devil powerless. In another version, Jack is a thief who tricks the devil into turning into a coin in order to play a prank on hapless churchgoers. The devil proceeds to become a coin and enters Jack's pocket, where he is forced next to a crucifix Jack happened to have. In both tales, in exchange for his freedom, Jack made the devil swear that he would never take his soul to Hell. However, when he died, he was denied access into heaven for his earthly crimes, and refused entry to hell for all eternity owing to his deal with the devil. The devil tossed him a coal of hellfire, which burns forever, to light his way through purgatory. Jack carved a turnip into a lantern, placed a coal inside, and became known as Jack of the Lantern, damned to wander purgatory for eternity.

My Irish grandfather, who spent the first thirty years of his life in the mountains and forests of County Kerry, told me a very different version of the tale. In his version, Jack was a seventeenth century English official living in Ireland. He was sadistic even by Tudor standards, which viewed the butcher of Catholic men, women and children as an acceptable practice, and one to be encouraged. The other English officials turned a blind eye to the suffering of the Irish people, so Jack's crimes only increased in number and severity. He became so ruthless and so vile, Satan himself left hell to bring Jack down to hell. Jack tricked the devil into climbing an apple tree as his last request, claiming he wanted a fruit from the top of the branches, and carved a crucifix into the bark, intending to strike a deal with the devil. However, because he had mocked God, the crucifix's power had no impact on Satan, who dragged Jack down to hell. Jack begged for the Irish citizens to help him, but they stood back and watched as he was pulled into the abyss. The devil tortured Jack long enough to turn him into a demon. Every year, on the anniversary of his death, the devil released Jack into the world to torment his enemies. Jack naturally picked the Irish as his targets, both for his own revenge and because of the Irish people's strong Catholic faith; he dared not cross the devil directly. The Irish used his fear to their advantage. Every year, on the anniversary of Jack's death, they would carve demonic faces into turnips and use them as lanterns outside their door. Jack would mistake these lanterns for the devil, and flee in fear. To this day, the Irish people place a similar lantern outside their door on the anniversary of Jack's death: October thirty-first.

Is this story true? It's probably easy for most of you to dismiss, especially if you don't have Irish blood, or haven't met your Irish ancestors, at which point you can't really consider yourself Irish. As for me, it's far more difficult to disregard. Ireland's wooded hills, which over a quarter of my brain sees as home, are a place where the lines between myth and history, separating faith from fact and distinguishing between science and magic are all very thin and blurred. Sometimes, these lines doesn't exist at all.

Happy week-and-a-day-before Halloween.