Subj : Origins of Halloween 5/5 To : All From : Rachel L. Akers Date : Thu Oct 26 2000 01:04 am (continued) The Real Origins of Halloween Version 3.5.4, copyright © 1997, 1999 c.e. by Isaac Bonewits What about those Evil Symbols? Several correspondents have said, if the holiday isn't evil why are there so many evil images associated with it such as ghosts, skeletons, black cats, ugly witches, demons, monsters, and Jack O'Lanterns? The answer, of course, is that most of these images aren't evil, and the ones that are were added by people opposed to the holiday. Ghosts have always made perfect sense, for Samhain was the festival where the Gates Between the Worlds were open wide and departed friends and family could cross over in either direction. As I mentioned earlier, people invited their ancestors to join them in celebration. The only ones who would cower in fear would be people who had wronged someone dead and who therefore feared retribution of some sort. The often repeated folk tale that the dead roamed the earth after dying until the next Samhain, when they could then pass over to the afterlife, makes no sense in either Celtic Paleopagan or Medieval Christian beliefs, so is probably fairly modern. Samhain was the time of year when the herds were | Image of skeletons culled. That means that farmers and herders | doing Can Can... killed the old, sick or weak animals, as well as others they didn't think would make it through the winter with that year's available food. Prior to the last few centuries in the West, most people lived with death as a common part of life, especially since most of them lived on farms. Samhain became imbued with symbolism of the death of the old year and the rebirth of the new year. So skeletons and skulls joined the ghosts as symbols of the holiday. Again, there's nothing evil here, at least to the innocent in heart. Indeed, in Mexico, where the holiday is known as Los dias de los Muertos, or "Days of the Dead," (combining All Saints Day with All Souls Day) skeleton and skull toys and even candies are made and enjoyed by the millions, many by and for devout Roman Catholics. Medieval Christians feared cats, for reasons as yet unclear, and especially feared the black ones who could sneak "invisibly" around at night. It's ironic that they feared cats so much that they killed tens of thousands of them, leaving their granaries open to rats and mice, no doubt causing much food to be wasted, and leaving Europe as a whole open to the Black Plague, which was carried by the fleas on those rats and mice. Unfortunately, the millions of human deaths caused by the Black Plague were later blamed on the Gothic (Satanic) Witches the Church invented, then murdered. Cats, as "evil" animals, became associated with the "evil" witches. Witches as figures of unalloyed evil were invented by the medieval Church. Paleopagan witches were simply local herbalists, midwives, healers and fortune tellers, who might sometimes be suspected of doing evil magic (see my essay elsewhere on this site for details). As diviners, they may well have been consulted on the best divination night of the year, but I know of no formal association of witches with Samhain until the late Middle Ages. As the Church tried harder and harder to make people abandon their Paleopagan customs for the new Christian ones, Samhain became a prime target. The Church began to say that demons were abroad with the dead, and that the fairy folk were all monsters who would kill the unwary. When Gothic Witchcraft was invented, the "Devil-Worshipping Witch" became the newest monster to add to the others. The green skin was a touch the Wizard of Oz movie added to the "evil old hag" version of the Gothic Witch. Halloween became a holiday in modern times for which half the fun was being scared out of one's wits. Modern fiction added new monsters to the American mix, including vampires (previously known mostly in Eastern Europe), werewolves (a remnant of the berserkers of Scandinavia), mummies (after modern Egyptology started), and various psychopathic killers and ghouls. These are not images anyone actually needs to perpetuate, but the teens certainly enjoy them. Jack O'Lanterns, as mentioned earlier, became popular as house decorations in the USA after immigrant Irish discovered how much easier pumpkins were to carve than turnips, unleashing what has turned into quite an art form in the last decade or so. They certainly add a spooky touch, especially when the glowing faces appear from the darkness. Most psychiatrists and psychologists seem to agree that Halloween's emphatic celebration of death serves to bring out our culture's suppressed feelings about the topic, and this can be a healthy experience for both children and adults. I strongly suspect that the primary reason for American culture's aversion to thinking about death and dying is that most modern Westerners don't believe the mainstream monotheistic religions' doctrines on the topic, or if they do, they fear eternal punishment more than they expect an eternal reward. The Paleopagan/Neopagan views that death is a transition to a new state of being where things go on much as they have here, at least until one reincarnates, is much less frightening (at least for those having a relatively happy life now), and makes the spirits of the dead unthreatening. Certainly, Halloween gives parents an opportunity to discuss their beliefs and attitudes about death with their children, one hopes with no recent close death to cloud the issues, and to soothe whatever fears their children may have. How Neopagans will Celebrate Reporters are always asking us what we Neopagans "do" for Halloween. Well, usually we take our kids around our neighborhoods trick or treating, as cautiously as any other parents. Those who stay at home may hand out commercially packaged candy to those who visit our houses (that's the only thing that's safe for us to give out). Over the weekend, our circles of friends will have rituals that might include "dumb suppers" (silent, saltless meals) for the Ancestors, or separate "kid circles" and costume parties for the children in our community -- and we always wind up with at least as many kids as we started out with! Most of us will do some divination, give honor to those who have died in the past year, play traditional games, and meditate on our own mortality. In 1997 c.e., something new was added to our Neopagan Samhain traditions in the United States. Hundreds of us met in Washington, DC (as well as in other cities) wearing green clothes, bringing food donations for the local food banks, cleaning up local parks and monuments, and just being visible as part of the American religious landscape. We brought thousands of flowers (both silk and real), to represent those Neopagans who could not join us because of travel or job scheduling difficulties, or because they rightfully fear Satanic Panic-er persecution in their home towns should their names or faces become publically known as belonging to a minority belief system. The flowers were later taken to local hospitals and nursing homes. At midnight on Halloween night (12:00 am Eastern Standard Time) three minutes of silence were observed in memory of those who have suffered for their beliefs and in solidarity with our fellow Pagans around the world. Throughout the weekend, Neopagans finally fulfilled the Satanic Panic-ers' fondest fantasies and performed the dreaded "blood sacrifices" they keep insisting they want us to do -- but we did them at blood-mobiles and local blood-banks across the country! (If the hatemongers want to prove how spiritually "superior" to everyone on the planet they are, why don't they do the same thing -- organize a mass blood donation event for the holiday? They might find out that those nice folks lying next to them in the blood-mobile are Pagans!) [Image] | This was a leaderless event, called Blessed Be and (Missed one) | Meet Me in DC, staged by an informal coalition of Washington area Neopagans and participated in by Neopagans in many other cities. I was there, and was delighted to see, despite death threats and promises of violence from satanic Panic-ers, a couple of hundred Neopagans at the Jefferson and Lincoln monuments, as well as members of other liberal and moderate religious communities, as well as some representatives of the mainstream media. Unfortunately, since nobody got shot and we weren't actually doing anything lurid, we didn't get nearly the coverage we had hoped for, but because the event is to be repeated in 1999 and future years, the mainstream media may start to pay more attention. To find out how you can participate in this year's events, in which I will be again taking an active role, visit the BBMMDC Website for details, and come back often for updates! So what do we American Neopagans really do on Samhain? No blood drinking, no baby sacrifices, no orgies -- just good, clean, all-American festivity with some thoughtful additions appropriate to the season and a few gentle political and social statements about our right to exist and our presence in the vibrant fabric of American religious pluralism. I know that disappoints the Satanic Panic-ers -- especially the ones who run around on the 31st of October looking for Occult Crimes In Progress, or who try to crash any Neopagan rituals they can find that night. (Note for law-and-order types: it's a violation of state and federal laws to disrupt any religious ritual in progress unless there's a clear felony happening -- which you won't find at our rites.) Spritual Warriors or Curse Casters? Some of the Satanic Panic-ers (as well as other conservative Christians) spend Halloween engaging in what they call "spiritual warfare" against local Neopagans. While for some Christians this phrase (at least on Halloween) refers only to saying prayers for "peace, protection, safety and for God's influence," as one correspondent told me, to the Satanic Panic-ers, spiritual warfare means saying "imprecatory psalms" and praying for the destruction of all of us folks they think are Evil Incarnate. Oddly enough, when members of competing religions do such things, the process is labled "casting curses" or "evil black magic" by these very same folks! Don't believe it? Here's a quote (minus the all-caps shouting) from an email I received on October 19th, 1998 c.e.: "...just keep your mouth shut! and don't ever try again to make those web pages! ... You better erase your web pages as soon as possible otherwise you will be sick to death within two month. Two month! Remember this!" Since I'm still alive a year later, we know that this one illiterate "spiritual warrior" was sorely disappointed. Of course, so was the one who promised to pray me to death the year before... I get a half a dozen emails every year now, challenging me to battle them on the astral plane and promising to destroy me and all other Neopagans, Druids, Witches, etc., in the name of and by the power of their God. Funny how there's more of us every year, despite the "spiritual warriors" and their supposedly inevitable victory over all of us Heathen. Conclusion Witches, Druids and other Neopagans are not responsible for the Satanic Panic-ers' bizarre fantasies of who and what they think we are. We will no longer let them get away with commiting or advocating hate crimes against us -- and then whining that they're the ones being persecuted because we're allowed to exist and to celebrate our own holy days according to our own beliefs. (And before they send me any more email complaining about my opinions or trying to win me over to Jesus Christ, they should read the ending of my Anti-Christianity? essay.) Other Christians may join the mother who told me, "I choose to believe the Bible principals verbatim, but I do not agree with everything my church leaders tell me as addendums. I require solid evidence." I hope this essay has provided just that kind of evidence. For everyone else, as one Pagan couple put it a couple of years ago. "Have wonderful and thoughtful memories, and plan a fantastic and responsible future, as our year ends and the New Year starts." HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE Copyright © 1974, 1999 c.e., Isaac Bonewits. This text file may be freely distributed on the Net, provided that no editing is done, the version number is retained and this notice is included. If you would like to be on the author's personal mailing/phone list for upcoming publications, lectures, song albums, and appearances, send your snailmail and/or your email address to him at PO Box 372, Warwick, NY, USA 10990-0372 or via email to "ibonewits@neopagan.net" . Specify Announcements and/or Discussion list. Shameless Plug!! (P. E.) Isaac Bonewits, Adr.Em./ADF If you've enjoyed reading this Snailmail: PO Box 372, Warwick, NY, USA essay and think the 10990-0372 information is worth having on My email address is the Net, please consider "ibonewits@neopagan.net" purchasing copies of my books, Copyright © 1999 c.e., Isaac Bonewits which your local bookseller or Most recently updated: Sept. 29, 2000 big chain bookstore should c.e. (minor) have in stock -- if they This page's URL is don't, tell them to order it "http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween.HTML" for you. Or, you could just My Homepage URL is send money! Seriously, "http://www.neopagan.net/" keeping this website available costs me both time and money, resources my physical disability makes scarce. 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