Unmasking Halloween…

Samhain - Celts Feast 

The idea for my 2^nd Post was prompted by some comments from  you readers and it is quite fitting to research this topic at present, because results from a primary research conducted revealed a misconception of some fascinating history that has gone before us and which will coincide with next week’s celebrations around the world.
Over the last two decades Trinbagonians have been celebrating Halloween by attending numerous costume parties during the last week in October. But just what are we (Trinidad and Tobago) actually celebrating? How did this unusual custom originate, and why are we even celebrating it? Is it, as some assert, a day for evil worship, or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?
It is known that this tropical twin isle of ours is affectionately called “Little New York.” A quick chitchat with the ‘man in the street’ for clarification will certainly leave you in stitches! But seriously, I am still in shock at just how ignorant some adults really are.
Blogger:What do you know about Trinidad and Tobago being called Little New York?
Man in the Street: Well, whatever New York have we bound to get it…in real time too. If them have flood we sure to flood out. If a plane crash, somehow our carrier will too. I mean, if New York sneezes we sure to catch the cold/flu.
Blogger: Have you ever attended a Halloween party here?
Man in the Street: Like I said, everything New York have we bound to get. I sure them people ain’t even understand what Halloween is about, but they dressing up like idiots. They even wearing snow boots in this hot country. Trinidadians like to follow fashion. I mean we have become so Americanise, that our true culture is almost non-existent.
Blogger: So what Halloween party you going to this year?

1^st Woman in the Street: Halloween is all about evil, scary costumes and devil worshipping!
Blogger: Do you know the history of how Halloween came to be?
1^st Woman in the Street: It’s about satan!
2^nd Woman in the Street: Halloween is all about evil and is the darkest day in the year!
Blogger: Thank you all for your time.
So where am I going with this? Keep reading and have an open-mind. The true meaning behind Halloween is so blurred, yet some still mask-up and ignorantly partake. But to really appreciate Halloween you have to first understand that while customs and traditions may vary they are all one and the same. We may not always agree with other people’s beliefs, but be mature enough to understand. After all “learning is a change in behaviour.”  
The backstory of this now commercialise celebration deals with the Supernatural beings of the outerworld and the wandering of their souls, and even though Christian missionaries tried to obliterate it during the early centuries of the first millennium A.D. by hopelessly trying to convert the Celtic people and change their religious practices (yes, Christians believed that it was devil worshipping), they inadvertently succeeded in effecting major transformations in later centuries…which the world now disguises as Halloween following All Saints and All Souls Day respectively on November 1 and 2.
Samhain…Sacred Celtic New Year

Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead some 2,000 years ago. The annual celebration at the time was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) and literally means “Summer’s end.” It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present calendar, which marked the beginning of winter. The belief at the time of Samhain, was that the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year travelled into the otherworld. One tale says that on November 1st, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year.

Hence, the Celtic people usually gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons--all part of the dark and dread. 

So on their New Year’s Eve night (October 31st), the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred; for the Celts believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth on this night. Here the living and the supernatural beings meet up once more…and in so doing, they are reaffirming death and its place as a part of life in an exhilarating celebration of a holy and magical evening.

 “In A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas…” now called Halloween. (Library of Congress, 1982)

Halloween…in Trinidad & Tobago

Halloween in this corner of the world is far from the sacred ritual it once represented. It is an extra-ordinary celebration filled with beautiful masks and an array of costumes to satisfy one’s fantasy of what sustains this material world we all reside in. Children in upscale neighbourhoods ‘trick or treating’ is limited to their compounds and adults use the opportunity (in disguise) as a ‘free pass’…to do something dangerous that will probably have consequences, i.e. a one night stand or drinking themselves into oblivion. The whole concept for us (the fete promoters), I have observed is a ‘free drinks’ party filled with prizes for best/scariest costumes and just having fun…

Perhaps I am guilty of that. It seems a lifetime ago when I too used to get all mask-up for this festive night. But even then I always thought how empty it felt, but is was where I needed to be at the time. Something about dressing up and pretending didn’t quite interest me for too long, yet I indulged? Ahh! Experience is really the best teacher. If only, I can go back and talk to my younger self (with what I now know…for sure), I would definitely tell her to take off that ridiculous costume…you look silly. You don’t need to subject yourself to such extremes to be cool and feel fit in. Ha Ha Ha. But that’s for another Post.

So what are your Halloween plans for this year? Will you be attending one of the curfew parties? 

Do you think the history of Halloween resonates with us or is it just another fete?