"Halloween is not satanic," says Hans Broedel, a medieval historian at Hamilton College, "They have absolutely nothing to do with one another. Halloween was originally the Celetic New Year which was Christianized in the Middle Ages." Broedel explains that one of the hallmarks of Christianity is that they adopt other holidays as their own; Easter is another example of this. He says, "The Celtic New Year became All Saint's Day, then All Souls and our Halloween. There is nothing Satanic about it at all."
Broedel says, "The reason that Halloween is spooky is that in Celtic tradition the dead are allowed to come back to earth on New Years Day. As in Dickens', A Christmas Tale, the ghosts love coming for special holidays. However, most Halloween traditions are Christian. Trick-or-treating was collecting alms for the poor in order to save your soul."
Goblins, Witches, Ghosts, Returning Dead and "Things That Go Bump in the Night"
Broedel says that Halloween is rooted in Celtic tradition and in that culture, many ghosts were friendly, coming back in the form of animals, including crows and cats. "Ghosts in the form of people, such as those we see in movies, are a contemporary phenomenon," Broedel says. "All except the grumpiest, scariest medieval 'ghosts' who were called 'revenants' and were the animated corpses of the returning dead."
Witches were a 15th-century creation and at first took the form of their "familiars" --cats, bugs and toads. The notion of a witch as a woman who flies through the night, with the big hat, green face and evil agenda is relatively recent folklore, he says.
Turnip Jack-O-Lanterns?
Broedel explains that although many misconceptions about medieval spiritual life are rampant today, some Celtic Halloween practices have been preserved, such as making jack-o-lanterns, although with a bit of a twist. They used turnips instead of pumpkins.
"They carved jack-o-lanterns out of turnips. So teach children a little history lesson and preserve Halloween fun at the same time: try a turnip-carving session," Broedel says. "One of the nice things about jack-o-lanterns made from turnips is that you can actually use them as lanterns. Children suspend the carved root from string or a forked stick and carry it around when they go out at night."
