Candle Greeting
I send you candle's greeting wise,
a hopeful flame 'gainst light's demise.
The leaves are turned, the harvest's nigh
Remember all - not with a sigh -
but turning threshold of its tide,
admit love's spirit as your guide.
Have a Happy Spooky Halloween!
The meanings and metaphors of Halloween are still in process. Our Halloween traditions are just a snapshot image taken from a long history of blended beliefs, rituals and perspectives from diverse sources. Some ideas competed and pieces of each converged at different locations, while other aspects were forgotten or overwritten. The neopuritans who would now abolish Halloween after so many years of celebration in America would have to take a hint from Jehovah's Witnesses to be consistent; they would have to stop celebrating the other holidays as well because all of the major holidays are composed of such mixtures. Ironically, some protestant churches honor the powers of transformation by celebrating "Reformation Day" (Martin Luther chose October 31, 1517 as the date upon which to post his Ninety-Five Theses).
Samhain
Samhain (pronounced sow-inn or sow-ayn, sow rhymes with wow) is an ancient "turning point" or "doorway" celebration that marks the start of winter and the Celtic (Irish) New Year ("Samhuinn" or "Samhainn" = Hallow-tide). Samhain celebrated the last harvest of the fall, and the final reaping of what was sown (as in the figure of the Reaper). The festival provided ways for people to physically and psychologically navigate the beginning of darkness and winter. Individual hearthfires were extinguished and relit from a common source to rebind the community. The 3-day festival of bonfires (literally bone-fires that consumed the feast-remains) recognized the cycle of death and renewal. Faeries as well as spirits of all kinds were imagined as particularly active at this season. At the cusp of this turn of the seasonal tide, the boundaries between the worlds were considered to be most porous, allowing contact and exchange between them. Hallows Eve was/is thus a time to be attentive to death and endings, to venerate the dead, and to acknowledge their energy (or their DNA, if you prefer), which still flows in and around and through us. Burying apples in the earth and leaving plates of harvest's bounty outside the door were thought to nourish beloved spirits, while a candle placed in the window helped to light their way along the journey to the lands of eternal summer. At this liminal moment of magical potency, one might invoke spiritual transformation by expressing recognition and gratitude toward the sacred cycles, intentionally nurturing an atmosphere of protection and blessing. The idea that "pagans worshipped the devil" was a construction of the christian church that aimed to suppress the native religions prevalent in Europe at the time. Samhain was and is a time, not a person.
World Tradition: Halloween, All Saints, All Souls, etc.
The word "Halloween" is taken from Hallowe'en, a contraction of "All Hallow's Eve." "Hallow" is an old word meaning to treat as sacred or holy (as in "hallowed be thy name"), and e'en means evening. Hallowe'en therefore means an evening to treat as holy/sacred. November 1 became "All Hallows Day" ("All Saints' Day"), a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. Originally held on May 1, it was moved in 834 in an attempt to christianize the festival of Samhain. In the year 1000, the Church designated November 2 "All Souls' Day." Christians would walk from village to village to ask for soul cakes (bread or pastry with currants), for which they promised to say prayers on behalf of the donors' dead relatives to hasten their passage from limbo to heaven. All Souls' also memorializes the dead from the Deluge (the biblical flood). Similar holidays include Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Teng Chieh (Lantern Festival), Yue Lan (Festival of the Hungry Ghosts), Chuseok, Mahalaya, Phi Ta Khon, and Alla Helgons dag. In Islam, the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr) falls on one of the last ten nights of Ramadan, most likely on one of the odd nights, especially the 27th night of the month. Muslims believe that this night is "better than a thousand months," and some spend the entire night in prayer.
Pranks
The tradition of pranks came to America in the 1840's via Irish immigrants. They were fleeing what was known as the "Great Potato Famine," which is incidentally a bit of a misnomer since their food had been taken and shipped to England under armed guard. Common pranks included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates. The traditions of various forms of "Mischief Night," "Pookie Night," "Devil's Night" and so on survive in the USA through the antics of adolescents, college students, and others who engage in "tricks" such as "egging" cars and house windows, "TP-ing" yards by covering them with toilet paper (or as they say now, "bathroom tissue"), ringing doorbells and leaving behind flaming bags of "poo," and occasionally extending the prank theme into theft and violence. I have sometimes wondered if there might be some sort of association chain from pookhas to pranks to pumpkins to punk.
Gone Where the Goblins Go?
For my Halloween/Samhain page this year, I would like to focus in a little bit on goblins, who hardly get any attention at all anymore. So what is a goblin? A goblin is a mischievous creature of folklore, a smallish clever being with an old man's face and pointed ears. Grotesque figures with elongated features, strong spindly arms and legs and crooked teeth, they are able to weave nightmares and put them into the ears of sleeping humans. Relatives of the fae, they are place-associated, sometimes for generations. Goblins are sometimes companions of the dead, and can be pranksters, but they are also seen as wiser than humans in some ways (for instance, in their understanding of early technologies). Goblins have been known to do things like borrow horses and ride them all night (which is why the horse was tired when no-one left the house - grin).
"What about Goblins, huh? Doesn't anybody believe in Goblins? You never hear about this. Except on Halloween and then it's all negative sh--. And what about Zombies? You never hear from Zombies! That's the trouble with Zombies, they're unreliable! I say if you're going to go for the Angel bullsh-- you might as well go for the Zombie package as well." - George Carlin
A goblin likes to be recognized by humans, and to be tended with small offerings of food (a bit like Santa). If he is thus honored, he may well assist with little tasks on the family farm (like a house-elf). If annoyed or ignored, however, he may cause milk to sour or calves to die. Some folkloric stories describe darker goblins still, who may steal or eat human children to punish someone who goes against a promise or refuses to appease them. Such goblins may force human women to bear their children, or they may switch out children - a form of the "changeling". Political/religious/ethnic/racist undertones may surface here in the idea of "disfigured evil subhumans" who eat children (or drink their blood) or force "human" women to have their children. Such ideas have arisen in instances of hysteria/panic toward persons and groups constructed as threatening to power interests (and thus "scapegoated" and cast-out). It is interesting in this regard that at some point the idea of the individual farm goblin faded back in favor or an idea of goblin armies en masse - a threatening horde.
The medieval Christian Church included the "Gobelinus," a demon that haunted Evreus in the 12th century, in their pantheon of demons. This might have been the origin of the word, transferred from a particular instance to a generic term. The goblin associated with Halloween is closer to the church view of the "hobgoblin" - the trickster side of the goblin associated with witches, something closer to our idea of a poltergeist. However, in many areas, the pre-Christian and Christian ideas merged and overlapped.
"Ghosts and goblins" functions as a shorthand phrase for the little children costumed for treat-or-treat, but children were also threatened with goblins, and told to watch out for them (like the "Boogieman"). A "gob" is a lump of slimey stuff, and goblins gobble (they'll gobble you right up). There also seems to be an association between goblins and the Jack-o-lanterns who light their way. Dressing up as a goblin or ghost may have arisen as a way to drive away malevolent spirits, or to hide oneself among them. There may have been an element of sympathetic magic in assuming the outward attributes of the frightening in order to control them or ward them off. Such is the strategy of the gargoyle in the eaves of a cathedral. There may even be a theme of outright empowering protest in taking on the guise of "otherness" (in Scotland, treat-or-treating is called "guising") in order to disturb whatever destructive powers-that-be with a "homeopathic dose." The rising popularity of presidential masks since Nixon may be attributed to this somewhat playful spirit of rebellion. One can also see it in satirical protest, such as is exhibited by the group "Billionaires for Bush."
My first memory of the word "goblin" is from the Wizard of Oz song "Ding, dong, the Witch is Dead" (midi) in the line "she's gone where the goblins go - below, below, below." The song is a judgment about domination as well as a song of celebration for its demise, and "Munchkins" could be an modern-day creation of a sort of benevolent cousin to the Goblin. Goblins appear in fantasy and science fiction, and in gaming culture (Warcraft, Dungeon Keeper, Lord of the Rings, Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons). George MacDonald, in "The Princess and the Goblin" described goblins as malevolent, underground creatures, more like trolls or dwarves. J.R.R. Tolkien's orcs were inspired by them and goblins have come to be regarded as smaller orc-cousins, distinguished from the more benevolent dwarves in his narratives. Jim Henson used goblins in the film "Labyrinth," in which Jareth the Goblin King (David Bowie) rules a bunch of foul incompetent goblin-creatures who bear some resemblance to the stupid henchmen of Maleficent in Disney's "Sleeping Beauty." Goblins also appear in "The Black Cauldron," "Legend," and (of course) in the world of Harry Potter.
Goblins are interesting folk, not to be underestimated.
My view of Halloween
I enjoy the mix of all the folkloric/religious traces as part of an appreciation of a celebratory imagination, one that nourishes the human spirit/soul/heart/mind and keeps us attuned to (and in atonement/at-one-moment with) our souls, our communities, and our planet. Such imagination and celebration help keep us from becoming spiritless and heartless. I love the food traditions (pumpkin pie, spice cake, mulled cider, apple everything). There is nothing intrinsically evil about Halloween, although some people do take it as an opportunity to explore their "shadow side" (Jungian analysts believe this is preferable to repression, since it may contribute to better integration of the self). Autumn is a time of reflection and remembering, and anyone sensitive to the flow of seasons can feel that. In America today, the celebration of harvest and reflective gratitude has been moved to Thanksgiving, while themes of honoring the dead have been dissipated out into various bank holidays and memorials of war. Figures of death appear in decorations of ghosts and skeletons, but the "holy evening" has been disconnected from most of its various source-roots and made a secular holiday.
Today, Halloween is driven primarily by the "trick or treat" tradition for small children. "Tricks" are on the way out, and children get their "treats" under increasingly controlled conditions. Some places have replaced Halloween celebrations with "fall festivals." As the leaves fall, adults can still have a bit of fun in the form of costume parties, although such celebrations have become much more subdued. I would like to see more frolic/dancing/revelry brought back into the holiday. We have become schizoid in this country, split between decadence and hypocritical self-righteousness. I would like to see more balance, more of a healthy middle ground of conscience and enjoyment. I say "Boo"! Have we become so fearful even of our own? Are we so afraid of the company of people of all ages and backgrounds? How have we become so alienated from one another? We share more in common than we tend to think. While we are thus divided, kept busy trying to survive, encouraged to distrust and even hate one another, we are all being robbed of our birthright. The freedoms that we used to cherish, the rights we used to uphold, and even our viability as a secure nation are being systematically stolen from us. As crony capitalism (corporatism, fascism) in America increasingly devalues the individual in favor of corporate greed, our country is becoming just as corrupt as the instances of communism that we always opposed (and it has less to do with party/church affiliations than one might suppose).
As winter approaches, scattered and diverse traditions thousands of years old suggest that sometimes the metaphorical is real and the real is metamorphical; sometimes the dark is light and the light is dark; sometimes there are rhythmns and patterns to change; sometimes mysteries walk among us - and sometimes, there are twilight spaces where everything is a little more open to transformation. Even as light wanes, we can share a meal together in community to celebrate what we have and to remember the best of what we have lost - and we can prepare ourselves for more difficult times to come with light and hope and gratitude for our belonging to all that is. As the nights get longer (and I cannot help but think of Mardi Gras and the dead of New Orleans this year), this Halloween carnivale cheers me somewhat, and gives me hope for another turn of the cycle after this long hard winter will have been done.
Have You Read This Far?
Well then, here are some treats for you. These are Halloween gifts I made using reproductions of old postcards in the public domain. They were distributed on a CD that I purchased some years ago. You may also take the opening Candle Greeting poem (with credit please) and the graphic as a gift to you. Enjoy!
You can click on the cat-o-lantern if you'd like to sign the guestbook.
HALLOWE'EN
Bring forth the raisins and the nuts--
To-night All Hallows' Spectre struts
Along the moonlit way.
No time is this for tear or sob,
Or other woes our joys to rob,
But time for Pippin and for Bob,
And Jack-o'-lantern gay.
Come forth, ye lass and trousered kid,
From prisoned mischief raise the lid,
And lift it good and high.
Leave grave old Wisdom in the lurch,
Set Folly on a lofty perch,
Nor fear the awesome rod of birch
When dawn illumes the sky.
'Tis night for revel, set apart
To reillume the darkened heart,
And rout the hosts of Dole.
'Tis night when Goblin, Elf, and Fay,
Come dancing in their best array
To prank and royster on the way,
And ease the troubled soul.
The ghosts of all things, past parade,
Emerging from the mist and shade
That hid them from our gaze,
And full of song and ringing mirth,
In one glad moment of rebirth,
Again they walk the ways of earth,
As in the ancient days.
The beason light shines on the hill,
The will-o'-wisps the forests fill
With flashes filched from noon;
And witches on their broomsticks spry
Speed here and yonder in the sky,
And lift their strident voices high
Unto the Hunter's moon.
The air resounds with tuneful notes
From myriads of straining throats,
All hailing Folly Queen;
So join the swelling choral throng,
Forget your sorrow and your wrong,
In one glad hour of joyous song
To honor Hallowe'en.
--J.K. BANGS in Harper's Weekly, Nov. 5, 1910.
