October Brings the Fall Season

          October is finally on us…..The month that brings cold, crisp air, the changing of the leaves, the haunting refrain of J. S. Bach’s “Toccata & Fugue played on a great pipe organ, bringing to mind the thrills of Halloween and the ghosts, hobgoblins, witches, black cats, werewolves, vampires & zombies who taunt a child’s dreams as an old crone flies across a full moon on her broom.

October is the time for the colors orange and black to mix with other muted colors along with pumpkins, Indian corn and mums as we decorate our doors and porches anticipating the arrival of Thanksgiving.        

          Thinking of Halloween brings back happy memories of my early years during this time when the schools would host the annual “Halloween Carnival” which was held back in the 40’s and 50’s at “Denton Hall,” the old Monroe High School gymnasium and then later at the Nowell Recreation Center.  Both venues were decked out in their best Halloween dress for the occasion which was attended by grade school kids where they were treated to all sorts of games, contests and goodies baked by the parents.  This event was usually a prelude to the actual night of trick-or-treating, bringing out the children in their scary finest in the hopes of returning home with their bags full of treats which all too soon will be gone in a matter of hours or with any luck…..days!

In the early 60’s of my eighth grade year, there came a flyer which was circulated for all in the school to read: “Now you’ve went and done it!  You’ve broken the seal and the secrets out!  So the goblins will get you if you don’t watch out.  Now cross your fingers and close your eyes, make a wish and get a surprise.

          Come to the carnival when the moon is low. Grab a broom and don’t be slow!  Don’t read this to no one; it ain’t poem or prose and keep this secret from both friend and foe.  If you don’t a wart on your nose will grow and black cats will haunt you wherever you go!

          Now take my advice and write down this date, and be there on time and don’t be late. Slip through the back alley and around the block, sneak up to the door and “knock, knock, knock” on the Rec Center’s front door, just two blocks from old downtown.

Come on kids, take off that frown….This is the night to forget all our verbs and nouns and other school things. Dress in your costumes and cast your lot in the old black pot for the carnival king and queen. The names from the pot the votes will bring!”

          Curious as to how and when Halloween originated I pulled out three books on the history of Halloween.  The best of the lot is “Death Takes a Holiday-A Cultural History of Halloween,” by David J. Skal, the leading authority on Dracula, Producer Tod Browning and all things macbre dealing with ghosts and other forms of supernatural. Another book worth reading is “Halloween-From Pagan Ritual to Party Night,” by Nicholas Rogers and following up is Lesley Pratt Bannatyne’s “Halloween-An American Holiday, An American History.”

          Halloween, a contraction of “All Hallows’ Eve” or “All Saints’ Eve” is a celebration observed in many countries on October 31, the day of the Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day.  It begins the observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints, martyrs and all the faithful dead.

The word, “Halloween” dates to about 1745 and is of Christian origin.  The word “Hallowe’en” means “Saints’ evening.”  It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows’ Eve.  In Scots, the word “eve” is even and this is contradicted to e’en or een.  Over time (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en evolved into Halloween.  “All Hallows’ Eve” is itself not seen until 1556.

          One theory holds that many Halloween traditions may have been influenced by ancient Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, which may have had pagan roots and some scholars hold that Samhain may have been Christianized as All Hallows’s Day along with its eve, by the early church.  Many academics believe that Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday being the vigil of All Hallow’s Day.

Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted houses, telling scary stories and watching horror films.  In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observations of All Hallow’s Eve include attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead.  Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallow’s Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods including apples, potato pancakes and soul cakes.

          And, from a 70+ year old issue of an Ideals Harvest magazine, comes this tale: “Halloween is one of our oldest festive holidays whose origins date back long before the Christian era.

          The ancient priests of the Druids are often credited with having founded the first harvest festival. This was held on what is now the last day of October, the eve of All Saints’day on November first.

And, from a 70+ year old issue of an Ideals Harvest magazine, comes this tale: “Halloween is one of our oldest festive holidays whose origins date back long before the Christian era.

          The ancient priests of the Druids are often credited with having founded the first harvest festival. This was held on what is now the last day of October, the eve of All Saints’day on November first.

          Giant fires were lit in honor of the sun-god, whose spirit, so they believed, deserved recognition and honor for the important role he played in growing their crops. The ceremony was a solemn, devout religious rite around the roaring flames of the fire.

          Centuries later the Christian church leaders established a day for service in memory of the saints, which became All Saints’ Day.

          Around the same time as the Druids were celebrating their harvest festival, the Romans had similar autumn feasts in honor of Pomona, goddess of the orchard.  Autumn flowers, ripe fruit, grain and corn were used as decorations as well as food.

The Britons seemed to have adopted this idea as well as our use of corn stalks, pumpkins, apples, nuts and other products of the harvest is apparently a direct continuation of this old custom.

          It was not until the middle ages that ghosts and witches were introduced into the Halloween celebration.  This was a period of ignorance and superstition, when the mysterious powers of the great unknown of darkness ran riot.  This situation was taken as license for the performance of strange and mischievous antics and pranks by celebrants. The pranksters continued their mysterious ghostly deeds until midnight.  When the church bells would ring ushering in the holy day, the Halloween celebrations would cease.

          Over the years and centuries the customs of Halloween celebrations have changed from time to time and from place to place. Fads and habits have come and gone but always the basic traditional intent of the holiday has remained, even though it may not even be known by the celebrants.

Many of the customs, traditions and practices are nearly impossible to trace.  Some of the more unusual and interesting customs of the past which have been recorded include the following:

          In Yorkshire, for a time, Halloween was known as Cake Night, and it was the custom for the mother of every household to bake a special cake for each family member.

          Nut cracking and later Nut Roasting or Nut Burning became an established custom in Ireland around 1800. Young ladies would place nuts with their lover’s names on them in the glowing embers of the fireplace.  Those that cracked or burst open first would prove unfaithful. But the nut that burned quietly, the lucky boy whose name was on it, was identified as a true, faithful love.

          Another favorite custom of Halloween was for a young lady to peel an apple, making sure she did not break the entire peel. Then she would hold the spiral peeling on the knife blade, swinging it three times over her head and then throw it over her left shoulder. Belief has it that when the peel landed on the floor it would form the initial of her future husband’s name.

Those early fireside games are reflected in our toasting marshmallows, masquerade games, soaping of house and car windows and other pranks of the day.”

          A beloved and talented artist friend of over 50 years in West Virginia who knows of my love of the season sent me a rendering of a typical Halloween night with black cats, pumpkins, bats and a witch streaking across the moon on a crisp cold night which says it all for many of us who grew up in the old days of Halloween so very many years ago.