If you’re not familiar with the story, fortunately longtime Journal reporter and Women’s Editor Lou Kepler can fill you in.
In this “Lou’s Hearthstone” feature from the Journal of October 26, 1969, she tells us the history of Halloween. It’s an interesting story that you might not be familiar with.
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Halloween Began 2,500 Years Ago, But It Differed
By LOU KEPLER
IN ALL things traditional, there is more than meets the eye. Take, for example, Halloween.
Legend tells us that it began more than 2,500 years ago among the Celts of ancient France, Ireland and England. The voice of the Establishment in those dim and distant days were the powerful Druid priests, who for centuries, practiced their mysterious rites in the caves and forests of prehistoric Gaul and Britain.
Sacred to the Druids were the hours of midnight and noon, oak trees and mistletoe. They believed that on Halloween, ghosts, fairies, witches and elves came out to harm people.
Cats were sacred. They were once human beings but were changed to feline form as a punishment for evil deeds.
Now for generations these beliefs persisted. The Druids instructed people, administered justice and forecast events by interpreting the flights of birds and the markings on the liver and other entrails of sacrificed animals.
There came a change. Protest groups demanded a change. I don’t know as the protestors strutted around with placards and picketed the Druids’ homes, but the groups proclaimed that the Druidic teachings were murky and downright stifling. So the priests and protestors had a fight that lasted for years and years. When the battle ended the cult’s long domination ceased.
Do you know who those victorious rebels were? The early Christians. They were faced with the problem as to what to do with Halloween.
The challenge confronting the early church was how to defang the dreaded day without discarding it. With their characteristic genius of supplanting pagan fears with superstition, Christian leaders in the year 700 redefined the day as All-hallows’ Eve, or eve of all the holy ones’ day since it fell before All Saints’ Day, an important date in both the present and medieval Christian calendar.
It was a masterful stroke. Cats and witches, ghosts and elves lived on, but only for amusement. Faith had replaced foreboding.
So if you are at a loss for an original Halloween costume this Oct. 31, remember the fearful Druids whose hats were peaked and whose robes were long and flowing.
And, if on Halloween night, you see a strange black cat outside, rejoice! If it were not for Christianity, you might identify the innocent creature as your long-deceased great Uncle Elmer coming back to spook the neighbors.
And, while we are talking about Halloween, how about giving the little kids a break this year? You older youngsters have all the candy and treats you can gorge yourself with anyway and I’m sure you prefer pizza to a candied apple.
Let’s cater to the beggars from the lollipop set.
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Apparently, Lou’s Kepler plea for the big kids not to muscle in on the little kids’ fun on Halloween left an impression on Journal readers.
During the last time that I went trick-or-treating with my younger brother (no, I wasn’t in high school yet), a grumpy homeowner took a look at me in my hobo costume and sneered, “Aren’t you a little old to be trick-or-treating?”
I can’t remember if I made a snappy comeback, but I sure was embarrassed. I can still point out the house on Palm Springs Drive.
And no, I didn’t egg it.
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