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A night for mischief, mystery and fun for all ages, Halloween has been captivating youth and entertaining adults for years.
Like many holidays, it has permeated every aspect of our society, including the economy, through sales of costumes and décor which begin months in advance, and clearance at celebration's end.
Schools, churches and families of all sorts take time to note Oct. 31 in one form or another, but where does such a diverse holiday come from, and where do we receive our myriad customs and beliefs about the day?
Halloween, also known as All Hallows' Eve, is the night before All Hallows', or All Saints' Day. In Western Christian theology, All Saints' is a day recognizing those who have reached the peak of existence, heaven.
All Hallows' then became associated with the dead, not yet purified or passed on. This coincides with the Roman Catholic holiday All Souls' Day, which follows All Saints' Day.
Halloween, however, also draws its beginnings from an amalgam of other historical days.
In ancient Briton, this time of the year was marked with a harvest festival honoring the sun god for the people's bounty and also with a night of devotion to the dearly departed, known as the "Night of the Dead."
The Pagan culture also affirmed that Samhain, the lord of death, assembled the souls of those who died during the year but were held back by their sin in the form of lesser animals. Samhain would take them onward from their animal form around this same time of year. As such, Oct. 31 was recognized by many as "The Vigil of Samhain."
The Roman festival for Pomona, goddess of fruit and gardens was also celebrated around the first of November, marking the end of the harvest as well. Over time, all of these events came to be associated together.
Robert Haven Schauffler explains in the foreword of his collection of Halloween essays, "Hallowe'en," "The long perished religions of the Druid and Roman have been fused by their descendents into a single magic celebration at the time of year sacred both to Samhain and Pomona."
It makes sense, then, that such a diverse holiday in origins should also have a diverse set of customs and rituals associated with it.
While practices differ greatly from culture to culture and even family to family, rare is the family who passes the holiday with no mark at all.
In general, the events of Halloween run along four themes: the life bounty of harvest, the dearly departed, the fundamental concerns of the living, and the pranks of the mischievous dead. Each of these themes is bursting at the seams with customs, superstitions and games played throughout the holiday.
Having developed from the celebration of the harvest and the deity Pomona, the life bounty collected has become a centerpiece of our current celebration of All Hallows' Eve. Children run around their neighborhoods collecting up sweet bounties of their own while adults hold parties and feasts to celebrate the day.
The symbolic pumpkins carved year after year are also symbols of great bounty.
While no longer seen in popular culture, the dearly departed were honored on this day with reverence and care. Prayers were said at the graves of loved ones, sermons held cherishing them and even suppers were laid out to honor them.
In one such case, messengers were sent through the streets soon after 9 p.m. to warn people to remain in their homes and clear the way for the rising dead to return to their families.
All Hallows' was and remains a time of mysticism and mystery, in which men and women alike sought to ease the anxieties of their lives, especially those of love.
The current-day practice of bobbing or "ducking" for apples was originally a game meant to divine the marital expectation of its participants. Those who could successfully fish the apple up from the barrel with their face alone were sure to be married, and women who did so often kept their apples beneath their pillows or tossed its peel in attempts to see or learn the name of those they are fated to wed.
Lastly, the aspect of Halloween which our culture has most emphasized is the pranks and tricks of the mischievous living and dead. Dressed in costumes ranging from terrifying to dazzling, we ask each home we visit, "Trick or Treat?" and rarely receive a trick in exchange for our efforts.
Corn scare mazes run all month long, meant to tempt us into facing our worst fears, and rebellious folks get into the spirit by committing a variety of pranks and tricks ranging from humorous to horrific.
The only question that remains unanswered is, what will you do for Halloween this year? With so much to be cherished and so much thrill to be had, how could one possibly fit it all into a single night?
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