Halloween follows in other holidays’ footsteps

Every year it’s the same thing at the University of Cincinnati when Oct. 31 rolls around: loud music, pumpkins with obscene images carved in them, women running down Calhoun Street in weather inappropriate costumes. There aren’t any trick-or-treaters; one would be hard pressed to find a celebration that doesn’t involve alcohol.

What ever happened to All Hallows Eve?

The Celts, who inhabited present-day Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated the new year at the end of the harvest and beginning of winter, approximately Nov. 1. Winter is associated with death, and the Celts believed the season change blurred the lines between the dead and the living.

On the eve on the new year, Oct. 31, the Celts celebrated Samhain, building large bonfires to burn crops and sacrifice animals to ward off evil spirits and please the culture’s gods. They attempted to tell each other’s fortunes during the ceremony and wore costumes of animal heads and skins.

The Romans – the group that later led to the rise of Catholicism – conquered the area in A.D. 43, ruling for 400 years. Two Roman pagan holidays were combined with the Celts Samhain: Feralia, the Roman commemoration of the dead, and Pomona, a day to honor the goddess of trees and fruit.

Christianity spread to formerly Celtic lands, bringing with it All Saints Day, a day to honor saints and matyrs, as decreed by Pope Boniface IV. It was no accident the Pope picked Nov. 1 for this holiday: Historians agree that he was attempting to replace the older, pagan traditions of celebrating the dead with a Catholic equivalent.

In Medieval England, All Saints Day was Alholowmessee, morphing into All-hallows or All-hallowmas. The night before All-hallowmas, the night of the old Celtic holiday became known as All-hallows Eve, or  modern-day Halloween.

Later, Nov. 2 became a holiday honoring the dead called All Souls Day, similar to Samhain: Celebrants would have bonfires and dress in costumes; however, this time the costumes focused on Christian iconography, such as devils, angels, saints, martyrs and other characters.

So those children who weren’t allowed to trick-or-treat because Halloween is the devil’s holiday, the joke’s on you. Your parents should have done their research.

But let’s jump ahead to college-age students. Plastic pumpkins full of candy are replaced with cases of beer. Little girls dressed up as cats or angels are replaced by barely legal and scantily clad women donning costumes like the sexy cat or a Victoria’s Secret angel.

It seems what once a celebration of pagan rituals turned Christian holiday has strayed far from its original intentions. The focus on death, spirits and costumes is still there, but all of the ritual and original meaning is gone; however, that can be said of almost any holiday.

Take Thanksgiving for example. In grade school, students are fed the myth of happy Indians and grateful Pilgrims rejoicing in a bountiful harvest.  Actually, food was rarely plentiful for America’s early settlers and the European transplants did more harm than good for the Indians.

And the mother of all holidays is a joke. Christian or not, almost everyone celebrates Christmas. No, not the birth of Jesus, but the commercial holiday it has become: you know, the presents, twinkly lights, sleigh bells and all of that.

In the spring we have Easter and that infamous rabbit. What does our long-eared friend have to with the resurrection the messiah of one the world’s largest religions? And what is the bunny doing hiding eggs?

What about America’s birthday? Fireworks weren’t in mass production in 1776, yet no Fourth of July celebration is complete without at least some cheap firecrackers or sparklers.

And what about St. Valentine? His holiday has turned into a commercial free for all of chocolates and roses.

President’s Day? Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday? Veteran’s Day? All excuses to take a day off of school.

Holidays aren’t about what they commemorate any more, they’re just an excuse to party. So throw on your costume – be it a bad version of Lady GaGa or your sheet that doubles as a toga – and get out there and celebrate. Happy Halloween.