A Bit of Halloween History, Poetry, Music, & Ephemera

(Originally published here on 10/17/09)

Halloween is commonly thought to have pagan origins, even though its etymology is Christian.  Halloween is, quite literally, the popular derivative of All Hallow Even, or the eve of All Saints’ Day (1 November).  Taken together with All Souls’ Day, which falls on 2 November, it is a time

       

assigned in the Christian calendar for honoring the saints and the newly departed.  In past centuries, it was also the occasion for praying for souls in purgatory.  Yet because Halloween is popularly associated with the supernatural, it is often believed to have strong pagan roots that were never eliminated by the holiday’s subsequent Christianization. 

Some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia.  More typically, it has been linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain or Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in) meaning summer’s end.  

(excerpt from Halloween- From Pagan Ritual to Party Night by Nicholas Rogers)

 

      

 

All Souls by Edith Wharton (published in Scribner’s Magazine 1909)

A thin moon faints in the sky o'erhead,
And dumb in the churchyard lie the dead.
Walk we not, Sweet, by garden ways,
Where the late rose hangs and the phlox delays,
But forth of the gate and down the road,
Past the church and the yews, to their dim abode.
For it's turn of the year and All Souls' night,
When the dead can hear and the dead have sight.

Fear not that sound like wind in the trees:
It is only their call that comes on the breeze;
Fear not the shudder that seems to pass:
It is only the tread of their feet on the grass;
Fear not the drip of the bough as you stoop:
It is only the touch of their hands that grope--
For the year's on the turn and it's All Souls' night,
When the dead can yearn and the dead can smite.

And where should a man bring his sweet to woo
But here, where such hundreds were lovers too?
Where lie the dead lips that thirst to kiss,
The empty hands that their fellows miss,
Where the maid and her lover, from sere to green,
Sleep bed by bed, with the worm between?
For it's turn of the year and All Souls' night,
When the dead can hear and the dead have sight.

And now they rise and walk in the cold,
Let us warm their blood and give youth to the old.
Let them see us and hear us, and say: "Ah, thus
In the prime of the year it went with us!"
Till their lips drawn close, and so long unkist,
Forget they are mist that mingles with mist!
For the year's on the turn, and it's All Souls' night,
When the dead can burn and the dead can smite.

Till they say, as they hear us--poor dead, poor dead!--
"Just an hour of this, and our age-long bed--
Just a thrill of the old remembered pains
To kindle a flame in our frozen veins,
A touch, and a sight, and a floating apart,
As the chill of dawn strikes each phantom heart--
For it's turn of the year and All Souls' night,
When the dead can hear and the dead have sight."

And where should the living feel alive
But here in this wan white humming hive,
As the moon wastes down, and the dawn turns cold,
And one by one they creep back to the fold?
And where should a man hold his mate and say:
"One more, one more, ere we go their way"?
For the year's on the turn, and it's All Souls' night,
When the living can learn by the churchyard light.

And how should we break faith who have seen
Those dead lips plight with the mist between,
And how forget, who have seen how soon
They lie thus chambered and cold to the moon?
How scorn, how hate, how strive, we too,
Who must do so soon as those others do?
For it's All Souls' night, and break of the day,
And behold, with the light the dead are away. . .

       

           

Classics From The Crypt- A Halloween Play List:

Night on Bald Mountain- Mussorgsky (superb 1940 Disney animated version)

Danse Macabre- Saint-Saens

Mephisto Waltz- Liszt

The Sorcerer's Apprentice- Dukas (also from Disney's Fantasia)

Funeral March of a Marionette- Gounod (interesting stop-motion playlet)

The Witches' Ride from Hansel & Gretel- Humperdinck

Have a Happy Halloween, everyone!

-Maureen Lang

 

Comments

[JFF]

I recognize a Beistle fireplace screen in that first photo, am I correct? The photos of the youngsters take me back to when I wore a Lone Ranger costume every year until it shredded. Thanks for this nostalgic post, Maureen.

[Maureen Lang]

JFF,

Yes that's a Beistle- good eye! Here are some more of the Beistle company's wonderful Halloween firescreen designs from the early part of the 20th century (all repros at this link; originals are rare/fragile/pricey as with most paper-based Halloween ephemera):

http://www.halloweenlanterns.com/page4.html

Glad you enjoyed the post. I especially recommend the classical music links- very nice for generating a pre-Halloween mood around the house.

[JFF]

I did listen to your play list, Maureen and I liked it very much. I would also include Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King on the Halloween classics list.

[Maureen Lang]

JFF,

Glad you liked listening to the play list selections. Here's a youtube of Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King" for your further listening pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIYT-MrVaI

[Natalie]

What a nice Halloween post; lots of great information and pictures. Halloween is the best - thanks for posting about it!!

[Maureen Lang]

You're very welcome, Dr. Nat, & thanks for taking time out from the clinic schedule to send in a comment.

[Kiwi]

Wonderful antiques, Mo. Will you be doing your charity yard haunt once again this year? Since we all moved to Avila I do miss the kids goggling at your front yard. No one does anything like it up here. Keep up your good spirits on Halloween night.

[Maureen Lang]

Kiwi,

Yes, we are once again doing a "Cans for Candy" Halloween yard haunt. Our front yard will be filled with spooky characters, big bowls of candy, & a donation bin for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. It's a great way to celebrate Halloween (as you well know, old friend) & enjoy a visit with our neighbors, friends, & their children.

[Bobby Murray]

This is wonderful Maureen, thank you.

[Maureen Lang]

Thanks, Bobby. Good to see you're back commenting on SST & TA. Hope you & yours have a Happy Halloween.

[David]

A very nice post, thank you. Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween.
David

[par4]

Not to much poetry appeals to me but that one is pretty darn good. Thanks Maureen

[smoke]

What a wonderful Halloween collection!

One can't help noting that Halloween falls midway between an equinox and the winter solstice, as does Ground Hog's Day, 3 mos later. Similarly, May Day falls midway between spring equinox and summer solstice. The one marker of the solar path, which seems to have disappeared entirely from contemporary calendars, would be a holiday near August 1. Suggests ancient roots, old timekeepers.

[Maureen Lang]

smoke,

The contemporary incarnation of pagans known as Neo-Pagans (aka Wiccans) seems to have that August 1 holiday in their calendar. Found this on http://www.witchway.net/days/days.html:

"LUGHNASSADH (August 1)
The great corn ritual of Wiccan belief (in Celtic realms this is the celebration of the wheat god, corn is an Americanization and it is possible there is an American Indian traditional holiday near this date that was borrowed by the American Neopagans). This is the big celebration of the harvest (Sort of a Pagan Thanksgiving, but the time clock is different as is that of the Celtics). Much feasting and dancing occur, though it is a bit more somber than many of the other holidays. Some Pagans celebrate this day as mearly the day to bake their bread and cakes for the coming winter and do no actual rituals save that of blessing the foods prepared. Pagans see this as a time when the God loses his strength as the Sun rises farther south each day and the nights grow longer. The Goddess watches in sorrow and joy as she realizes the the God is dying yet lives on inside her as her child. As summer passes, Wiccans remember its warmth and bounty in the food we eat. This sabbat is also called Lammas, August Eve, Feast of Bread..."

[Shirley Bolton]

Lovely Halloween post, Maureen. Robert and I enjoyed it so much we put it up on our biggest screen to show to our grandbabies. That would be Steffy's two daughters. A very Happy Halloween to you.