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| Witchvox Chapter: Wren's Nest News | Chapter Page Views: 54,889,429 |
 Hallowe'en: Trick, Treat And A Total Travesty? Author: Christopher Howse Source: The Telegraph (UK) Title: HALLOWE'EN: TRICK, TREAT AND A TOTAL TRAVESTY? Hallowe'en, as we know it now, is a fake. It was imported from America in the 1980s, which is when British children found out from the film ET (1982) how to go about trick-or-treat. It may not be long ago, but it is long enough to seem immemorial to anyone under 30. To them, Tesco's Hallowe'en Frankenstein cake or Asda's "Bride of Chuckie's very own recipe for Creepy Cupcakes" seem just like the commercialisation of Christmas. The difference is that there's really nothing behind them. "Most of the supernatural aura that supposedly surrounded the day in earlier times," says Steve Roud, a respected folklorist, "is an invention from the modern period that has now become entrenched in a way that is depressingly familiar." But does Hallowe'en not represent the timeless pagan feast of Samhain? Not a bit of it. In Ireland, Samhain, November 1, was the beginning of winter, "an important day of gathering and feasting but not, it seems, of much religious or supernatural significance" Mr Roud insists. | |
| Community Thoughts: There are 8 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Eh, Missing Something. | Nov 8th. at 8:51:21 pm EST |
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Friday Scott (Middleton, Wisconsin) - Email Me Conspicuous absence from this gentleman's claims would seem to be... Basically no mention of Ireland. It'd seem he's basically just trying to ignore... or erase, the folkloric connections to anything non-Christian by claiming it's all made up by America and Gerald Gardner. But, actually, the folklore and myth about it is documented much further back, (particularly coming to mind are the 'Celtic Twilight' authors who sought to document the same declining folklore traditions. It does seem that in the American version of Halloween some customs were transposed from other seasons, but you can't really draw such conclusions from *that.* |
| Same Old,Same Old | Nov 7th. at 11:40:50 pm EST |
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trustyfromthetoolroom (Beecher, Illinois) - Email Me As I believe that I remember the wisdom from Liam Clancy " What a parcel of rouges in a nation" This mans article while high falutin in it's nature is just more of the Brit putting the rest of us ignorant Celts down.Sorry to be rude but I've heard their banter all my life. Sean |
| White Man Not Understand | Nov 7th. at 1:44:29 pm EST |
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Sphinxring (Olympia, Washington) - Email Me Being of the spotted persuasion, I'll guess this guy's not a Celt... |
| Funny. | Nov 7th. at 11:06:56 am EST |
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lizzard 326 (Montgomery, Illinois) - Email Me I read so much on folklore and tradition. See them on the History channel and such. Everyone seems to have a different take on the Holidays. It should be noted that there is a common thread through Most of this that may trump and claims of where it may or may have not come from. Dark half of the year. Harvest, Apples, and late havest such as gords. Celebrations for prepairing for the long winter ahead. Thinking of dead relitives. Hmmmmm. |
| Folklorist Vs. Anthropologist/archaeologist | Nov 7th. at 12:07:45 am EST |
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Jeffrey (Glendale, Arizona) - Email Me I'm going to guess this fellow has never read T.G.E. Powell or Stuart Piggott... |
| While It's Important | Nov 6th. at 12:32:53 am EST |
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Rosemary (Oneonta, New York) - Email Me to form your own traditions and have your own perspectives, it's also very very important to not change the past to meet your own needs. It's pretty much fact that the "thinning veils" and otherworldly rhetoric associated with the holiday is a modern belief, and that's fine. Just because it is new doesn't mean it is not a legitimate belief. But saying the belief always existed, changing the past to suit your own desires does a disservice to intellectual pursuit and is disrespectful of our ancestors and their lives. |
| Well, | Nov 5th. at 5:48:50 pm EST |
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me From one extreme to the other. Both are ridiculous. It is possible that the Irish were able to keep much of the old lore alive while the Brits foisted much of theirs away. |
| Poppycock! | Nov 5th. at 12:19:56 pm EST |
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Blue Fox (Toronto (Etobicoke) , Ontario) - Email Me While the tentative links between Halloween and Samhain are just that, to state that " In Ireland, Samhain, November 1, was the beginning of winter, "an important day of gathering and feasting but not, it seems, of much religious or supernatural significance" Mr Roud insists" ignores so very much of Irish folk customs and history it is no wonder that his specialty is in English Folklore. There are is a swath of comprehensive texts written in the last century which covers all the folk aspects of Oíche Shamnha which were practiced in Ireland, well before the 1980's I might add. "Irish Folk Ways" by E.Estyn Evans. "Survivals in belief among the Celts" by George Henderson Kevin Danaher's seminal, "The Year in Ireland" Celtic Heritage by Alwyn and Brinely Rees To name a few. Though I suppose Danaher just went around and made everything up, right? |
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