Let's take a look at some of the traditional things we associate with today's festivities and see what the Halloween facts behind them are. With the exception of Trick or Treat, these traditions either go all the way back to the Druids, or if not, to the Irish of many years ago.
Skeletons - Skeletons are scary to some, or at least they can make people uncomfortable. Obviously, the skeleton is associated with death, but if All Saints Day is in honor of the dead, displays of scary skeletons seems a little out of place. Once again, the Druids played a key role in this. The belief was that at the time of the year they celebrated Samhain, when all the crops had been harvested, it was the end of a life-death cycle. The druids further believed that at this particular time, the spirits of the dead would begin their journey to the underworld. By placing a skeleton on the door of a domicile, or more often, a turnip in the window with a face carved in it, the spirits would keep their distance. Historical Halloween facts also indicate the Druids built bonfires for the same reason. Today, skeletons in whatever form, are more designed to scare us than to scare spirits away, and are a fixture in many commercial haunted houses as well as a popular costume theme, especially for the younger celebrants.
Black Cats And Witches - Black cats and witches have been associated with the Halloween season for many centuries. There is a close connection between witchcraft and pagan religious beliefs. Of course belief in witches of one type or another still exists, and as is well known, suspected witches were killed, often by burning at the stake, in both Europe and the American colonies. Black cats come into the picture as the remnant of a belief that they were reincarnated humans in some instances and witches in disguise in others. Black cats, if not absolutely feared, were creatures to avoid. The black cat and the witch therefore make logical companions. Halloween facts do not appear to shed light on where the broomstick came into the picture.
The Jack O'Lantern, Turnips Are Good, Pumpkins Are Better - Most people nowadays have probably never heard of turnip carving. The Druids did it as part of their festivities, and the tradition was carried down to present-day Ireland. There is an Irish legend concerning a fellow named Jack, who got in trouble with both the devil and the keeper of the Pearly Gates. Upon his death, Jack was forced to wander in a kind of dark netherworld and, to light his way, carried a carved out turnip with a hole in the side, containing a glowing ember. This was Jack's lantern, and Jack came to be known as Jack Of The Lantern, and eventually the lantern itself was called a Jack O'Lantern.
The Irish, not being aware of pumpkins, brought the turnip-based Jack O'Lantern with them when immigrating to North America. Once they discovered the relative ease in carving the larger pumpkin, the modern Jack O'Lantern was born. Halloween facts indicate that when turnips were still in vogue, scary faces were carved in them for the purpose of scaring away evil spirits. Today of course the faces are designed to either to scare people, or are happy faces which say “welcome”. In recent years pumpkin carving has grown into a true art form, with detailed and sometimes beautiful images carved into the shell.
Now It's Charlie Brown - In more modern times, horror movies contributed much to our celebration of Halloween, what with costumes of Dracula and the Frankenstein monster always a favorite. And we have some new traditions, such as watching "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on TV once a year. Watch it enough times and you'll almost hope it were true. One of the joys of Halloween is opening the front door to see a couple of very small ghosts, holding their candy pail, and trying to remember what they are supposed to say, as their Mom or Dad stand proudly in the background.
Happy Halloween!