HALLOWEEN 萬聖節
“As spirits roam the neighborhoods at night,
Let loose upon the Earth till it be light… Halloween wraps fear in innocence,
As though it were a slightly sour sweet. Let terror, then, be turned into a treat…” ~Nicholas Gordon
Halloween is celebrated on October 31. The origin of Halloween can be traced back to more than 2000 years; it was celebrated by the Celtic people. The holiday, called Samhain, the festival for the Lord of the Dead occurred around October 31. They believed that the disembodied spirits and ghosts roamed the world that night searching for living bodies to possess, inflicting suffering and violence upon people. Joseph Conrad: “There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.”
The Celtic priests, Druids, performed religious rituals by offering sacrifices to please gods and frighten the evil spirits away. They also piled animal bones, twigs and logs in a field and set them on fire, “bone fire,” from which the word ‘bonfire’ derived. It served to symbolize the sun to fight with dark powers. The Celts placed food on their doorstep to appease the spirits. They also donned decorative animal heads and skins to masquerade themselves as the spirits to frighten the wicked spirits away; this custom is thought to be the origin of wearing Halloween costumes and masks.
After the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory, the Pope attempted to merge the traditions of Christianity and paganism. He designated November 1 as All Saint’s Day (All Hallows Day), and November 2 as All Soul’s Day. In order to appease the pagans, November 1 was proclaimed as a joint holiday for the dead, and the evening before (October 31) as All Hallow’s Evening or Hallow E’en and eventually became Halloween. Dexter Kozen: “Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen, Voices whisper in the trees, “Tonight is Halloween!”
The tradition of trick or treating originated with a ninth-century Medieval European custom, ‘souling.’ On All Souls Day, November 2, Christians travelled from door to door, soliciting money and food in return for prayers for their deceased relatives. It was believed that after people died, their souls were in a state of abeyance for a period of time, and prayers could expedite their souls to enter heaven. It was also believed that if people did not offer food or treats for the wandering spirits or ghosts on Halloween, they would trick them by creating mischiefs.
Other customs of Halloween include going on hay rides, lighting a bonfire and visiting haunted houses. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “All houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses…” People put jack-o-lanterns, witches, ghost figures and orange lights by the windows or doors. Nicholas Gordon: “On Halloween, witches come true; wild ghosts escape from dreams. Each monster dances in the park.”
Orange and Black are the “official” colors of Halloween in decorations. Orange is the color that symbolizes the fall harvest; it also signifies strength and endurance. Black represents the approaching darkness of a long severe winter. Halloween was once a festival of the dead; and death is correlated with darkness, denoted by the color black.
There are some similarities between Halloween and the Chinese Zhongyuan Festival 中元節, also known as Ghost Festival 鬼節 and sometimes dubbed as Chinese Halloween. In both festivals, people believe that ghosts are spirits of the dead who would return to earth. Some ghosts are hostile, so people try to drive them away or appease them with activities and offerings. Similarly, the two festivals are of religious backgrounds. Halloween was originated from the Celtic festival ‘Samhain’, later Christianized. The origin of Zhongyuan Festivals can be traced to Buddhism. Interestingly, displaying jack-o-lanterns is a custom of Halloween; whereas the release of floating lanterns 放水燈 (荷花燈) is one of the traditions of Zhongyuan Festival. 滿湖星斗涵秋冷，萬朵金蓮徹夜明。 Today, Halloween, having lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones, is generally a carnival.
Shakespeare: “’Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world.” “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” “Something wicked this way comes.”
“詩鬼”李贺: 鬼燈如漆啲松花，坐泛楚奏吟招魂。 海神山鬼來座中，溪錢杵鳴旋風。 呼星召鬼歆杯盘，山魅食時人森寒。
About the author:
Dr. Patrick Lau was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to the U.S. after high school. He retired from the VA Northern Indiana Heath Care System where he served as Chief Radiologist and moved to Florida with his wife in 2011. He was an active member & contributor of IACA and ICMA while in Indiana. Dr. Lau is also a scholar of art and literature and a prolific writer, he has been a dedicated columnist for Indy Asian American Times since 2010.