Let’s delve into the world of historical fact… Completely contrary to what many would have one believe, Halloween is _not_ a holiday that has close ties to the ancient past, nor does it have some ‘pagan’ antecedent, nor is it a continuation of several ancient customs. It is a relatively new phenomenon, originating from right here in the USA from about the 1920’s or so, and represents a mix of cultures, capitalism, and accommodation. Many people tend to associate modern Halloween with three things: The old Celtic celebration of Samhain (asserting that most of Halloween’s customs originate with ancient Samhain celebrations); Satanism (asserting that Halloween’s origins are Satanic, as evidenced by the many Satanists who use this day to promote their beliefs); and All Saints Day (asserting that the early church established the holiday to “Christianize” Samhain). Perhaps the most difficult aspect of researching these various origins, traditions, and assumed ‘truths’ about Halloween, is sifting through all the data and separating what is historical _fact_ from the myth, legend, and religious paranoia of what is historical _fiction._ It’s not an easy task. Indeed, what makes this task even more difficult, is that so many of these ill- researched ‘’facts’, suppositions, and assumptions have been repeated for so long, they have essentially become accepted as truth. One can find these asserted ‘facts’ in everything ranging from various educational websites, to entries in dictionaries and encyclopedias, and even in (some) scholarly articles. What we find after close examination and scrutiny, however, is that the accepted origin of most Halloween traditions/beliefs comes from the latter (historical fiction), rather than the former (historical fact). Contrary to what many believe, or were taught, all three holidays; Halloween, All Saint’s Day, and Samhain, developed _completely independent_ of each other. They *do* however, all share a common date and perhaps a “feeling”….but that’s really about it. Indeed, so much of Halloween “feels” Pagan that attempts to connect those things to ancient Samhain simply “feels right”. The truth is, to say Halloween’s connections to ancient Samhain are, at best, extremely tenuous, would be grossly overstating the facts. What is definitively known about Samhain would fit on about one side of a piece of paper. Halloween just does not have the “pagan precedent” so many people seem to desperately want it to. It might also be mentioned that until the middle of the 20th century, anthropologists typically assumed that any festival, however new it actually was and no matter where it came from, had ancient pagan roots, even if the people celebrating it gave a different story and were therefore thought to be ignorant of its origins. There was a romantization of rural cultures such that it was thought the rural folk were holders of ancient wisdom, but simultaneously ignorant that they held wisdom or that it was ancient, so they needed academics to explain it to them, based on theories that have long been discredited. Most accounts we have of Samhain come from early Christian Irish monks who, for obvious reasons, painted it in the worst light possible, embellishing their stories with superstitions that were current in their day. The reality is, that they really knew nothing more of Samhain then than we do today. By most historical accounts, Samhain proper was preceded by three days and followed by three days. In some accounts it’s only a three day celebration. Samhain seems to have been a time to prepare for winter, and celebrate the final harvest of the year. One activity that old Gaelic texts seem to suggest was very popular at Samhain was…. horse racing. That sounds a lot like most European holidays from October-January. Ancient Gaelic texts also speak of it as a time to pay tithing, gather taxes, and a holding of a judicial assembly (much like the Manx ‘Tynwald Day’). Indeed, the word ‘Samhain’ itself in Irish Gaelic (_Samhuain_ in Scotts Gaelic, and _Sauin_ in Manx Gaelic) simply means “summer’s end”. In these languages, it is also the name for the entire month of November (e.g. _mìos an t-Samhain_ in Scotts Gaelic). There seems to be no doubt that the opening of November was the time of a major festival which was celebrated, at the very least, in all those parts of the British Isles with a pastoral economy. At most, it may have been general among the ‘Celtic’ peoples. The Gauls apparently celebrated it as well, based upon the Coligny calendar. There is no evidence, however, that it was connected with the dead, and no proof that it opened the year. The second-century Coligny calendar, engraved on a bronze tablet found in France, suggests that the new year was celebrated on May 1, with the holiday Beltane. In all these texts, there is zero reference to Samhain as a religious celebration. Essentially it was a gathering to "take care of political business before the winter. Most of the fallacies regarding Samhain come from shoddy scholarship done in the 1800’s.
@@paulwalsh598 Yes...and no. Ireland, until relatively recently, did not celebrate the "American Halloween". There are, of course, traditions that area few centuries old, but most of these come more from customs that have evolved around All Hallows Eve/All Saints/Souls Day. Other customs, things like Mischief Night and the carving of turnips/root vegetables are only historically attested to a few centuries back. People want to connect Halloween with Samhain, but the more one researches the subject, the more one comes to the obvious realization that there really is no connection other than that both occur around the same time of the year.
@@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474 Incorrect. The American traditions come from Ireland and they came LONG before the 1920s as you claimed. They arrived with the 4 million famine and post famine immigrants. All saints/all souls day were the Celtic church attempt to incorporate 3,000 year old Celtic traditions, so your argument is actually backwards. In fact there are far more dates in the Celtic church calendar that attest to this incorporation, including St Bridgets day which was a Celtic spring Goddesses holiday. The modern complaints of cultural approbation bore me. As far as I am concerned people are free to celebrat and share my culture, but to deny it is both incorrect and insulting. As far as I am concerned Americans are free to celebrate my culture but do not attempt to deny its existence and origins!
Why would anyone want to put a curse on themselves and their kids... People do not realize they are putting curse on themselves by celebrating Holloween. I certainly do not want any curse on my household.
This is crazy!!! They are actually tell people that they worship the devil and trying to clean it up with words like celebration, festivals, nonsense you follow this and you will be judged
![Clonakilty Samhain Parade [Music from Roz McVeigh / Kíla + Ian Hawgood]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Sdm8UE8yk0s/mqdefault.jpg)
Derry , Ireland for Samhain on my bucket list
Let’s delve into the world of historical fact…
Completely contrary to what many would have one believe, Halloween is _not_ a holiday that has close ties to the ancient past, nor does it have some ‘pagan’ antecedent, nor is it a continuation of several ancient customs.
It is a relatively new phenomenon, originating from right here in the USA from about the 1920’s or so, and represents a mix of cultures, capitalism, and accommodation.
Many people tend to associate modern Halloween with three things: The old Celtic celebration of Samhain (asserting that most of Halloween’s customs originate with ancient Samhain celebrations); Satanism (asserting that Halloween’s origins are Satanic, as evidenced by the many Satanists who use this day to promote their beliefs); and All Saints Day (asserting that the early church established the holiday to “Christianize” Samhain).
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of researching these various origins, traditions, and assumed ‘truths’ about Halloween, is sifting through all the data and separating what is historical _fact_ from the myth, legend, and religious paranoia of what is historical _fiction._
It’s not an easy task. Indeed, what makes this task even more difficult, is that so many of these ill- researched ‘’facts’, suppositions, and assumptions have been repeated for so long, they have essentially become accepted as truth. One can find these asserted ‘facts’ in everything ranging from various educational websites, to entries in dictionaries and encyclopedias, and even in (some) scholarly articles.
What we find after close examination and scrutiny, however, is that the accepted origin of most Halloween traditions/beliefs comes from the latter (historical fiction), rather than the former (historical fact).
Contrary to what many believe, or were taught, all three holidays; Halloween, All Saint’s Day, and Samhain, developed _completely independent_ of each other. They *do* however, all share a common date and perhaps a “feeling”….but that’s really about it. Indeed, so much of Halloween “feels” Pagan that attempts to connect those things to ancient Samhain simply “feels right”.
The truth is, to say Halloween’s connections to ancient Samhain are, at best, extremely tenuous, would be grossly overstating the facts.
What is definitively known about Samhain would fit on about one side of a piece of paper.
Halloween just does not have the “pagan precedent” so many people seem to desperately want it to.
It might also be mentioned that until the middle of the 20th century, anthropologists typically assumed that any festival, however new it actually was and no matter where it came from, had ancient pagan roots, even if the people celebrating it gave a different story and were therefore thought to be ignorant of its origins. There was a romantization of rural cultures such that it was thought the rural folk were holders of ancient wisdom, but simultaneously ignorant that they held wisdom or that it was ancient, so they needed academics to explain it to them, based on theories that have long been discredited.
Most accounts we have of Samhain come from early Christian Irish monks who, for obvious reasons, painted it in the worst light possible, embellishing their stories with superstitions that were current in their day. The reality is, that they really knew nothing more of Samhain then than we do today. By most historical accounts, Samhain proper was preceded by three days and followed by three days. In some accounts it’s only a three day celebration. Samhain seems to have been a time to prepare for winter, and celebrate the final harvest of the year. One activity that old Gaelic texts seem to suggest was very popular at Samhain was…. horse racing. That sounds a lot like most European holidays from October-January. Ancient Gaelic texts also speak of it as a time to pay tithing, gather taxes, and a holding of a judicial assembly (much like the Manx ‘Tynwald Day’).
Indeed, the word ‘Samhain’ itself in Irish Gaelic (_Samhuain_ in Scotts Gaelic, and _Sauin_ in Manx Gaelic) simply means “summer’s end”. In these languages, it is also the name for the entire month of November (e.g. _mìos an t-Samhain_ in Scotts Gaelic).
There seems to be no doubt that the opening of November was the time of a major festival which was celebrated, at the very least, in all those parts of the British Isles with a pastoral economy. At most, it may have been general among the ‘Celtic’ peoples. The Gauls apparently celebrated it as well, based upon the Coligny calendar. There is no evidence, however, that it was connected with the dead, and no proof that it opened the year. The second-century Coligny calendar, engraved on a bronze tablet found in France, suggests that the new year was celebrated on May 1, with the holiday Beltane.
In all these texts, there is zero reference to Samhain as a religious celebration. Essentially it was a gathering to "take care of political business before the winter.
Most of the fallacies regarding Samhain come from shoddy scholarship done in the 1800’s.
An essay of Horsecrap, we are celebrating Halloween here for thousands of years. Long before the 1920s in the US.
@@paulwalsh598
Yes...and no. Ireland, until relatively recently, did not celebrate the "American Halloween". There are, of course, traditions that area few centuries old, but most of these come more from customs that have evolved around All Hallows Eve/All Saints/Souls Day. Other customs, things like Mischief Night and the carving of turnips/root vegetables are only historically attested to a few centuries back.
People want to connect Halloween with Samhain, but the more one researches the subject, the more one comes to the obvious realization that there really is no connection other than that both occur around the same time of the year.
@@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474 Incorrect. The American traditions come from Ireland and they came LONG before the 1920s as you claimed. They arrived with the 4 million famine and post famine immigrants. All saints/all souls day were the Celtic church attempt to incorporate 3,000 year old Celtic traditions, so your argument is actually backwards. In fact there are far more dates in the Celtic church calendar that attest to this incorporation, including St Bridgets day which was a Celtic spring Goddesses holiday.
The modern complaints of cultural approbation bore me. As far as I am concerned people are free to celebrat and share my culture, but to deny it is both incorrect and insulting.
As far as I am concerned Americans are free to celebrate my culture but do not attempt to deny its existence and origins!
Why would anyone want to put a curse on themselves and their kids... People do not realize they are putting curse on themselves by celebrating Holloween. I certainly do not want any curse on my household.
This is crazy!!! They are actually tell people that they worship the devil and trying to clean it up with words like celebration, festivals, nonsense you follow this and you will be judged
It was and still is an evil holiday.
Pagan. Not a good thing to celebrate.
This is why COVID happen
Thats not what I hear.