Dating back about 2,000 years, Halloween marked the Celtic New Year and was originally called Samhain, which translates to "summer's end" in Gaelic. Halloween is relatively new to America, having only become popular in the early 1900s. The various trademarks now a part of Halloween in America have been both carried throughout the centuries, while others are more modern traditions. Read on to find out the meaning behind 13 spooky Halloween staples, including spiders, witches and trick-or-treating.
#1 BLACK CATS
Often used as symbols of bad luck,
black cats grace many Halloween decorations. The black cat's bad reputation
dates back to the Dark Ages, when witch hunts were commonplace. Elderly,
solitary women were often accused of witchcraft, and their pet cats were said
to be their "familiars," or demonic animals that had been given to
them by the devil.
Another medieval myth told that
Satan turned himself into a cat when socializing with witches. But nowadays,
black cats aren't synonymous with bad luck and mischief everywhere — in
Ireland, Scotland and England, it's considered good luck for a black cat to
cross your path.
#2 JACK-O-LANTERNS
A fun fall activity, carving
Jack-o'-lanterns actually has its roots in a sinister, tragic fable. Celtic
folklore tells the tale of a drunken farmer named Jack who tricked the devil,
but his trickery resulted in him being turned away from both the gates of
heaven and hell after he died. Having no choice but to wander around the
darkness of purgatory, Jack made a lantern from a turnip and a burning lump of
coal that the devil had tossed him from hell. Jack, the story goes, used the lantern to
guide his lost soul; as such, the Celts believed that placing Jack-o'-lanterns
outside would help guide lost spirits home when they wander the streets on
Halloween. Originally made using a hollowed-out turnip with a small candle
inside, Jack-o'-lanterns' frightening carved faces also served to scare evil
spirits away. When the Irish potato famine of 1846 forced Irish families to
flee to North America, the tradition came with them. Since turnips were hard to
come by in the states at the time, pumpkins were used as a substitute.
#3 BATS
Medieval folklore also described
bats as witches' familiars, and seeing a bat on Halloween was considered to be
quite an ominous sign. One myth was that if a bat was spotted flying around
one's house three times, it meant that someone in that house would soon die.
Another myth was that if a bat flew into your house on Halloween, it was a sign
that your house was haunted because ghosts had let the bat in.
#4 SPIDERS
A common source of fear, spiders
make for creepy, crawly Halloween staples. They join the ranks of bats and
black cats in folklore as being evil companions of witches during medieval
times. One superstition held that if a spider falls into a candle-lit lamp and
is consumed by the flame, witches are nearby. And if you spot a spider on
Halloween, goes another superstition, it means that the spirit of a deceased
loved one is watching over you.
#5 WITCHES
The stereotypical image of the
haggard witch with a pointy black hat and warty nose stirring a magical potion
in her cauldron actually stems from a pagan goddess known as "the
crone," who was honored during Samhain. The crone was also known as
"the old one" and the "Earth mother," who symbolized
wisdom, change, and the turning of the seasons. Today, the kind, all-knowing
old crone has morphed into the menacing, cackling witch.
#6 CAULDRONS
The pagan Celts believed that after
death, all souls went into the crone's cauldron, which symbolized the Earth
mother's womb. There, the souls awaited reincarnation, as the goddess' stirring
allowed for new souls to enter the cauldron and old souls to be reborn. That
image of the cauldron of life has now been replaced by the steaming, bubbling,
ominous brew.
#7 WITCH’S BROOMSTICK
The witch's broomstick is another
superstition that has its roots in medieval myths. The elderly, introverted
women that were accused of witchcraft were often poor and could not afford
horses, so they navigated through the woods on foot with the help of walking
sticks, which were sometimes substituted by brooms.
English folklore tells that during
night-time ceremonies, witches rubbed a "flying" potion on their
bodies, closed their eyes and felt as though they were flying. The
hallucinogenic ointment, which caused numbness, rapid heartbeat and confusion,
gave them the illusion that they were soaring through the sky.
#8 TRICK-OR-TREATING IN COSTUMES
In olden times, it was believed
that during Samhain, the veil between our world and the spirit world was
thinnest, and that the ghosts of the deceased could mingle with the living. The
superstition was that the visiting ghosts could disguise themselves in human
form, such as a beggar, and knock on your door during Samhain asking for money
or food. If you turned them away empty-handed, you risked receiving the wrath
of the spirit and being cursed or haunted.
Another Celtic myth was that
dressing up as a ghoul would fool the evil spirits into thinking that you were
one of them so that they would not try to take your soul. In the U.S.,
trick-or-treating became a customary Halloween tradition around the late 1950s,
after it was brought over by Irish immigrants in the early 1900s.
#9 HALLOWEEN COLORS
The traditional Halloween colors of
orange and black actually stem from the pagan celebration of autumn and the
harvest, with orange symbolizing the colors of the crops and turning leaves,
while black marks the "death" of summer and the changing season. Over
time, green, purple and yellow have also been introduced into the color scheme
of Halloween decorations.
#10 MISCHIEF NIGHT
For some, namely troublesome
teenagers, Halloween is also a time for neighborhood pranks. From egging and
toilet-papering houses to smashing jack-o'-lanterns, "devil's night"
can be full of mischief and menace.
The ancient Celts celebrated
Samhain with bonfires, games and comical pranks. By the 1920s and 30s, however,
the celebrations became more rowdy, with rising acts of vandalism, possibly due
to the tension caused by the Great Depression. To curb the vandalism, adults
began to hand out candy, reigniting the forgotten tradition of trick-or-treating
in costume in exchange for sweets.
#11 CANDY APPLES
The fusion of Celtic and Roman
traditions is behind Halloween's candy-apple staple. Samhain was around the
time of the Roman festival honoring Pamona, the goddess of fruit trees. The
goddess is often symbolized by an apple, so the fruit became synonymous with
Samhain celebrations of the harvest.
Candy apples are popular Halloween
treats, and the sugary fruit on a stick was handed out during the early days of
trick-or-treating in North America. Today, candy apples can be covered in
caramel or chocolate with nuts, as well as in the classic, shiny red syrup.
#12 BOBBING FOR APPLES
In ancient times, the apple was
viewed as a sacred fruit that could be used to predict the future. Bobbing for
apples is one of the traditional games used for fortune-telling on Halloween
night. It was believed that the first person to pluck an apple from the
water-filled bucket without using their hands would be the first to marry.
If the bobber lucked out and caught
an apple on the first try, it meant that they would experience true love, while
those who got an apple after many tries would be fickle in their romantic
endeavors. Another myth was that if a girl put her bobbed apple under her
pillow on Halloween night, she would dream about her future husband.
#13 CANDY CORN
The candy most synonymous with
Halloween, the yellow, orange and white candy meant to resemble a corn kernel,
was invented in the late 1880s and began to be mass-produced in the early
1900s. The original process for making candy corn was cumbersome and
time-consuming, as each color of syrup had to be heated up in large vats and
carefully poured by hand into specially shaped molds.
Source: http://www.livescience.com/16677-halloween-superstitions-traditions.html
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