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As a celebration of nature's never ending renewal of the life that feeds and supports people and the earth, Samhaim celebrated impending darkness after the light and harvest of fall after which life would re-emerge again in the spring. With this in mind, Samhaim was a religious time of fasting, reflection, meditation and prayer as well as a time for casting spells to end hardship, pain, illness and hunger. It was believed the worlds of the living and the dead merged on this day and it was in order to maintain peace between the two worlds that most of our Halloween traditions evolved such as trick or treat.
Fear of the roaming dead brought about many Halloween practices but first note this interesting fact. The early Christian Church changed All Saints Day, which was in May to October 31(All Hallow's Eve) in order to appease a still pagan oriented congregation. It is purported that the Halloween customs we follow today is a result of the massive Irish famine immigration.
Many of our traditions stem from Irish or other Celtic countries. Take the Jack o' Lantern. In Ireland, it was said "Jack" was a mean drunkard who used to beat his wife. He played too many tricks on the devil to save his soul. Well, when Jack died, he was too bad to get into Heaven and the devil was too annoyed at him to let him into Hell either. The devil gave Jack a burning coal which Jack placed inside a partially eaten turnip, called a bogie. From that day forward, Jack wanders the earth with this lantern looking for a place to rest his soul. Since ancient times, the pumpkin has replaced the turnip.
Costumes and masks were used for protection against spirits and despite conversion to Christianity, people remained afraid of All Hallows Eve, the one day it was believed spirits were allowed to freely walk the earth. In order to not be recognized by these spirits, people would leave their homes at night incognito in masks and misleading regalia.
In ancient Ireland the Druid priests of Muck Olla would go to farms begging for food and money for their houses of worship. If farmers did not pay, barns would be burned or animals would disappear. These incidents were believed to have been caused by the god, "Muck" from which the word muck has come to mean trouble and chaos. Acts such as these evolved into the threat of 'tricks' (or pranks) if treats were not given. Spain also had its tradition. On All Hallows Eve, people would place cakes and nuts on graves to bribe the devil. In Belgium children begged for money to buy cakes to eat. Each eaten cake was believed to relieve the suffering of a soul. In Ireland, food were specially prepared for the dead. Often a large amount of food was set aside not to be touched by anyone until the ritual period was over. In Wales, the wealthy in a community would put together a communal feast while the poor, representing the community's dead, would ask for food in the name of dead ancestors.
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