A short history of Halloween and celebrating in Australia

Halloween is my favourite holiday, and I miss it. Although it’s catching on, Australia doesn’t celebrate it as widely as Americans.

Halloween, a contraction for All Hallow’s Evening, is a holiday observed on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian festival of All Hallows. Also known as All Saints Day, it’s a day that commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. In other words, it is a day to remember the dead.

The origin of the word Halloween and the unmovable calendar date of 31 October are Christian, but the beliefs and traditions of Halloween are much older. These are rooted in western European harvest and pagan festivals of the dead, particularly the Celtic Samhain.

Samhain is a Gaelic festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, or the darker half of the year. Farmers brought cattle back from the summer pastures and slaughtered livestock. They lit bonfires and held rituals to ensure people would survive the harsh winter.

Samhain occurs during the liminal period between autumn and winter. It occupies a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold. It’s a time when the door to the Otherworld opened enough for the souls of the dead and other spirits to enter our world.

Kinship was essential in the ancient pagan world, so people held feasts to honour ancestors. Turnips were carved and used as lanterns to help lead souls. On the other hand, people needed to protect themselves from harmful spirits, which may have led to the custom of disguising oneself. Divination was also popular at this time.

During the Middle Ages, Christianity developed another tradition that would remain central to Halloween: souling. Medieval Christians baked soul cakes, which they gave to soulers, mainly children and the poor, who went from door to door on Halloween praying and singing for the dead. Each cake eaten represented a soul freed from Purgatory. This practice is thought to be the origin of modern trick-or-treating.

Americans did not recognise Halloween until the 20th century. In Britain, Protestants attacked the pagan customs and the Christian theology of Halloween during the Reformation, and the holiday’s popularity waned. The Puritans of New England maintained strong opposition to Halloween. It wasn’t until mass Irish and Scottish immigration during the 19th century that Halloween came to North America with its mix of pagan and Christian traditions.

In North America, Halloween took on a new life. The native pumpkin, already associated with the autumn harvest, replaced the turnip used for carving lamps. Softer and larger, it was easier to carve than a turnip. Gothic literature and horror movies gave Halloween the themes of horror, evil, the occult, and monsters that it didn’t initially have. Capitalism drove a new thriving market of candy, costumes, decorations, haunted houses, and parties. I’ve celebrated Halloween most of my life, not in a Christian way, but in that American way of carving pumpkins, decorating the house, dressing up, and trick-or-treating.

For many contemporary Pagans, Halloween retains the sacredness and solemnity of Samhain. We may not slaughter livestock or worry about how we will get through the harsh winter anymore, but we internalise the harvest concept. We reflect on what we’ve metaphorically reaped through the year and honour our ancestors.

According to Hallozween, the first report of Halloween in Australia was in 1858, with the Castlemaine Select Scottish Ball celebrating the holiday at Red Hill Hotel. Yet many Australians think that Halloween is a recent import from the USA.

It’s spring. The Pagan calendar is based on the seasons, and local Pagans celebrate Beltaine, the spring festival. Like Christmas, Halloween in Australia is divorced from its seasonal origins.

It feels strange to celebrate a holiday marked by autumn colours and harvest in the spring. We need to re-envision it for the Southern Hemisphere just as the Irish and Scottish adapted it to the New World and America adopted it uniquely.

I’m going to celebrate Halloween, and I know I’ll be in the minority. Aussies generally frown upon Halloween as having little relevance to Australian culture and perceive it as an unwanted American influence. Some parents don’t like the idea of trick-or-treating, which was such a joy in my childhood. But there is a slow and steady rise in Halloween celebrations. Local supermarkets have now begun to carry the giant orange pumpkins that Americans know so well (at a premium price).

So, I’ll be purchasing one, inviting others, and having family and friends over for a fun afternoon of pumpkin carving followed by dinner. On Halloween, I’ll place my jack-o’-lantern outside and have a bowl of candy ready.