Understanding the Scary Things of Halloween

People often ask, "If the holiday isn't evil, why are there so many evil images associated with it" such as ghosts, skeletons, black cats, ugly witches, demons, monsters, and Jack O' Lanterns? The answer, of course, is that most of these images aren't evil, and the ones that are negative were added by people opposed to the holiday.



Ghosts
Ghosts have always made perfect sense, for Samhain was the festival where the "Gates Between the Worlds" were open wide and departed friends and family could cross over in either direction. As mentioned earlier, people invited their ancestors to join them in celebration. The only ones who would cower in fear would be people who had wronged someone dead and who therefore feared retribution of some sort. The often repeated tale that the dead roamed the earth after dying until the next Samhain, when they could then pass over to the afterlife, makes no sense in either Celtic Paleopagan or Medieval Christian beliefs, so is probably fairly modern. It is possible that any "earthbound" spirits needing assistance to pass over might have received it at this time, but this wouldn't have been considered necessary for most of the dead.



Dancing Skeletons
Samhain was the time of year when the herds were culled. That means that farmers and herders killed the old, sick or weak animals, as well as others they didn't think would make it through the winter with that year's available food. Prior to the last few centuries in the West, most people lived with death as a common part of life, especially since most of them lived on farms. Samhain became imbued with symbolism of these annual deaths. So skeletons and skulls joined the ghosts as symbols of the holiday. Again, there's nothing evil here, at least to the innocent in heart. Indeed, in Mexico, where the holiday is known as Los dias de los Muertos, or "Days of the Dead," (combining All Saints Day with All Souls Day) skeleton and skull toys and even candies are made and enjoyed by the millions, many by and for devout Roman Catholics.

Black Cats
Medieval Christians feared cats, for reasons as yet unclear, and especially feared black cats who could sneak "invisibly" around at night. It's ironic that they feared cats so much that they killed tens of thousands of them, leaving their granaries open to rats and mice, no doubt causing much food to be wasted, and leaving Europe as a whole wide open to the Black Plague, which was carried by the fleas on those rats and mice. Unfortunately, the millions of human deaths caused by the Black Plague were later blamed on the Diabolic Witches the Church invented, then murdered. Cats, as "evil" animals, then became associated with the "evil" witches.

Witches
Witches, as figures of pure evil, were invented by a fearful medieval Church and spread by the Catholic and Protestant Churches during the Reformation period. Paleopagan witches were people suspected by their neighbors of using magic or poison to harm others, though the term was sometimes used to insult or accuse the "cunning folk" (who were herbalists, diviners, and folk magicians) of committing malpractice. There is no formal association of witches with Samhain until the late Middle Ages. For some historical facts about all the different people - real and imaginary - who have been called "witches" over the centuries, refer to Bonewits's Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca.

As the Church tried harder and harder to make people abandon their Paleopagan customs for the new Christian ones, Samhain practices became a prime target. The Church began to say that demons were abroad with the dead, and that the fairy folk were all monsters who would kill the unwary. When Diabolic Witchcraft was invented, the "Evil Devil-Worshipping Witch" simply became the newest monster to add to the others. The green skin was a twentieth century touch the Wizard of Oz movie added to the "evil old hag" version of the Diabolic Witch.

Halloween became a holiday in modern times for which half the fun was being scared out of one's wits. Modern fiction added new monsters to the American mix, including vampires (previously known mostly in Eastern Europe), werewolves, mummies (after modern Egyptology started), and various psychopathic killers and ghouls. These are not images anyone actually needs to perpetuate, but the teens certainly enjoy them.





Jack O'Lanterns
Jack O' Lanterns, as mentioned earlier, became popular as house decorations in the USA after immigrant Irish people discovered how much easier pumpkins were to carve than turnips, unleashing what has turned into quite an art form in the last decade or so. They certainly add a spooky touch, especially when the glowing faces appear from the darkness.

Most psychiatrists and psychologists seem to agree that Halloween's emphatic celebration of death serves to bring out our culture's suppressed feelings about the topic, which can be a healthy experience for both children and adults. It is strongly suspected that the primary reason for American culture's aversion to thinking about death and dying is that most modern Westerners don't actually believe the mainstream monotheistic religions' doctrines on the topic, or if they do, they fear eternal punishment more than they expect an eternal reward. The Paleopagan/Neopagan views that death is a transition to a new state of being where things go on much as they have here, at least until one reincarnates, is much less frightening (at least for those having a relatively happy life now), and makes most spirits of the dead unthreatening to us.

Certainly, Halloween gives parents an opportunity to discuss their beliefs and attitudes about death with their children, one hopes with no recent close death to cloud the issues, and to soothe whatever fears their children may have.