Make sure your dolls house dolls are dressed up warm this autumn!
Once again Medieval Christians adapted a pagan festival to fit a religious celebration. This originally started on All Soul’s Day (November 2nd when the dead were remembered) when people would beg for food (these were given in the form of Soul Cakes) and in return the beggar would say prayers for departed friends and relatives of the giver. This custom still remains in some areas of the British Isles – most notably Ireland.
This has changed over the intervening years and now children have taken the place of adults, and they no longer offer to say prayers for the dead. Soul Cakes have today been replaced by requests for sweets, apples and money.
Several pagan festivals have merged into our modern Hallowe’en: amongst them All Souls Day, Punky night, bonfires from the pagan festival of Samhain (the original Celtic New Year celebrated after the gathering in of the harvest), many of these festivities also required the use of a disguise so that malevolant spirits would not recognise the living.
A common theme with all these pagan festivals is the fact it was thought the dead could make contact with the living at this time of year. In order to appease these spirits (who could play tricks on the living), offerings of food were given to the dead or to the religious leaders.
In Scotland, Ireland and northern England, there is a similar tradition of Guisers (people in disguise) who carry carved out turnips (never pumpkins) and have bonfires to celebrate the start of the Celtic New Year. In England bonfires have become synonymous with Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night (this will be covered in a later post)
Games which also have their roots in divination or fortune telling are common traditions, such as apple bobbing. Special cakes containing charms were also baked in some parts of Britain.
Unfortunately in recent years many of our older customs and traditions are now being replaced with the North American version of Hallowe’en festivities – Trick or Treating.