Welcome to Celtnet's Halloween Information and Recipes Page — Today, we tend to think of Hallowe'en as an American festival, as this is the country which is most exuberant in its celebration of this ancient festival. However, what is much less know is that Hallowe'en is actually over 2000 years old and hearkens back to the Gaelic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in) and which literally means Summer's End. Indeed, the modern Welsh name for this day Calan Gaeaf which means 'the eve of Winter'.)

Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It is at the beginning of the observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed. In popular culture, the day has become a celebration of horror, being associated with the macabre and supernatural.

Popular Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins or turnips into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror or Halloween-themed films.

The History of Hallween:

The Celtic Age

To the ancient Celts, October 31st represented the last day of Summer and November 1st was the first day of Winter. As such the night of October 31st a 'no time' between the old and the new year and between the light half and the dark halves of the year. As such the hearth fires were extinguished on October 31st and re-lit on November 1st.

November was also the month of death in the Celtic calendar, where animals were slaughtered to provide meat for winter. Indeed, the Modern Welsh for November Tachwedd literally means 'The Month of Slaughtering Fatted Kine'. This often began with a feast on November 1st where pigs were slaughtered (part of this folklore is preserved in the Cymric (Welsh) legend of Arawn and Hafgan, as told in the Mabinogi of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed.

In Irish tradition the sacred kings of Tara would partake of horse flesh on this day, and this practice may explain the origins of the English hobby horse (known as the Hooden Horse on Hallowe'en) and the Welsh Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare) now used on New Year's eve, but originally used on the Celtic New Year, November 1st.

As October 31st was a time of transition it was also the time when the world of man and the worlds of the gods and the ancestors were at their closest and the barriers between them were thinnest. The sprits of the dead could return to the living (this was one reason the hearths were put out, so that the spirits of the departed would not feel at home). It was also the time of the Wild Hunt, when the faery, led by Gwyn fab Nudd would be abroad to increase their numbers and dominions. (For a personal view on this, read my poem Calan Gaeaf (Winter Calends).)

Big bonfires were lit to ward off evil spirits and to sanctify the cattle ready for slaughter. There are still traditional of walking cattle between two bonfires on this day. And bonfires were though to attract the spirits away from homes and to ward away the Wild Hunt.

From at least the 16th century,[135] the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales.[136] This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to 'souling'. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them.

We know little about what the ancient Celts may have eaten at this time of year, however archaeology suggests that pork and wild boar was popular and it's fair to suggest the following historical as part of a 'traditional' Samhain feast:

Iron Age Pork and Beans
Leavened Bread Bread
Suckling Pig
Celtic Pork and Apple Stew

The Roman Age:

After the Roman conquest of the majority of the Celtic lands (Ireland and Pictland being exceptions), it seems as if two Roman festivals became syncretized with the native Samhain traditions. These were the Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans commemorated the passing of the dead (a date originally celebrated at the Winter Solstice [around December 21st] in the Celtic Lands) and the celebration of Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. Again, the Celtic lands had their own apple deities and Afallon (the orchard isle of Avalon) was already a Celtic realm of the dead and the departed ancestors.

The association of the departed souls and apples with October 31st give us some of our modern traditions about this day and may explain the practice of bobbing for apples, where the first person to bite into an apple would be the first to be wed the following year.

Little is known about Roman foods and practices during this time of year, however one food that was probably both consumed and made as offerings to the spirits of the departed was the sacral bread, libum. Also there is a recipe in Apicius' De Re Coquinaria for a stew of pork with apples which combines the sacred meat and the sacred fruit of the Halloween season, so I include this recipe here as well.

Libum (Roman Sacral Bread)
Minutal Matianum (Pork with Apples)

Although the following dish does not have a Halloween association, it does show just how ancient the dish of pumpkin pie actually is... Originating with the Romans (though, to be fair, it's made with squash/gourd not pumpkins, pumpkins originating in the Americas)!

Patina de Cucurbitis (Squash Pie)

The Early Christian Church:

After a great battle Rama killed the demon and recovered his wife. Rama's return with his wife Sita to Ayodhya and his subsequent coronation as king is celebrated at Diwali.

Christianization of the Celtic lands after the fall of Rome happened rapidly and though Pope Boniface IV originally set the festival day of All the Saints on May 13, in 825 Pope Gregory III moved the date to November 1st, setting it to coincide with the pagan festival of Samhain, thus supplanting the festival with a Christian meaning. In Old English, the mass held on All Saints' Day was known as Allhallowmass and the night before was know as All Hallow's Eve (where hallow means sacred, sanctified, holy). By contraction All Hallow's Eve became Hallowe'en (or Halloween). In early Christian belief it was held that souls were released from purgatory on All Hallow's Eve and were abroad for 48 hours (an obvious survival of the earlier pagan beliefs) and this is why November 2nd is know as All Souls' Day.

The Modern Day:

Interestingly, it was the Irish and Scottish immigrants during the 19th century who brought Halloween festivities to America, so the modern festivities remain a continuation of the ancient Celtic original. Even the caved pumpkin (typically known as a Jack O'Lantern) originates with carved swedes and turnips (done in Wales, Scotland and Ireland) and the traditional carved beetroot of England.

Traditional Halloween Foods

In Ireland, Halloween was once a day of abstinence, when no meat was eaten and dishes made with potatoes were consumed instead. Typical dishes would include:

Colcannon
champ
boxty pancakes
potato farls
apple and potato fadge
and barm brack


In England there was a tradition of eating and serving Soul Cakes on Halloween. These were baked as offerings to the spirits of the dead but also given as gifts to children who came 'souling' (the Halloween version of carolling and the origin of 'trick or treating'). Another traditional Halloween treat was the toffee apple (known as candy apples in America) and apple pies or tarts have also been traditional at Hallwoeen.

soul cakes
toffee apples
Apple Tart with Herb Bennet
Apple Pie

A particular version of these cakes, known from Derbyshire are the Thorcakes or 'tharf cake' which originally were unleavened cakes meant as a staple, but which on Hallowe'en were enriched with honey or treacle. They started out as gifts for the dead, but eventually became festival cakes associated with Winter festivities.
Thorcake


In the North of England, particularly Lancashire a version of mushy peas made with Black Peas, known as 'Parched Peas' was traditionally served at both Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes night fairs.
Parched Peas

In Wales, treacle toffee (taffi triog) has always been made for Halloween and soups or stews made with the turnip or swede turned into lanterns were often served.

Pumpkin-based Halloween Recipes:

This practice of using the lantern source to make food also survives in the many pumpkin-based dishes served at this time of year:

Halloween Recipes for Children:

The Americanization of Halloween has made the modern version of the festival as an occasion children (and the young at heart) here are foods that either look scary or have scary names. Guaranteed to delight, entertain and slightly gross-out. Other recipes include cakes and sweets (candies) that can be given as treats.