Between the Worlds: The Origins of Halloween Final Part: Witch's Wisdom

The figure of the witch is now an integral part of Halloween in our minds, but she may be a relatively late arrival.   How she got there is a story extremely long and complex.

I suspect that originally witches were just another of the various supernatural beings thought to walk or fly about the earth on Halloween.  Witches tended to get confused with sorcerers, who, since they may supposedly used evil spirits to carry out their work, would be particularly active on this night.

The Real Witches - Wise Old Ladies in the Woods?
Some today regard the so-called witches of old Europe as simply survivors from the pre-Christian, nature-focused religions of the ancients; in other words, pagans who revered nature and Her cycles. The idea of older, traditional folks living off in the woods, continuing their seasonal celebrations, magical beliefs, and herbal medicine, is not far from our image of the witch:  The old lady off in the woods, talking to her cats and working her magic spells (recipes and healing potions?)

As Christianity gained ascendancy in Europe, witches were reinterpreted through Church dogma of the time and came to be viewed (incorrectly) as Satan-worshippers.  Many of the popular (and often incorrect) notions about witchcraft derived from supposed "confessions" extracted by torture from the accused "witches" of earlier centuries.  Most who were executed as witches during the "burning times" were most likely "strange" old ladies living alone in the woods, the mentally ill, midwives and herbalists, people who followed the "old ways" of the Celts, women whose remarkable ugliness or beauty brought attention.....those whose "difference" aroused suspicion in a fearful, ignorant, and tumultuous age.

The Witch's Cauldron
The witch's cauldron represents the "cauldron of Cerridwen" of Celtic myth, source of wisdom and rebirth -- and the direct symbolic predecessor of the Holy Grail.  In myth often the seeker was cut up and boiled in the cauldron, to emerge again reborn in wholeness, health & wisdom.  (But thanks to Shakespeare for the line, "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!")

The cauldron and later the Grail were believed to be guarded by a hideous woman-beast.  In many Celtic stories it is through this terrifying creature that the magic vessel is finally encountered, and only the person who can accept and kiss her can gain access to the wisdom and renewal she guards. 

This image of the old witch hovering over her cauldron embodies beautifully the original symbolic meaning of Halloween (and doesn't she remind you a bit of Hestia at her eternal hearth-fire?). 

Here we confront perhaps the ultimate riddle: By embracing the pain and struggle of life we gain wisdom and greater strength.  Embrace the dark to find the light.  At Halloween, as winter approaches, the world comes face to face with the power of death and darkness, which holds within it the promise of rebirth.  On the wheel of the year, the cold stillness of the coming winter will take us around again to the warmth and renewal of spring.

Behind our holiday called Halloween lies the eerie, magical mood of the ancient festival of Samhain and All Hallow's Eve.  Perhaps we would do well to remember some of its original meaning -- not to conjure up real fears again, but rather to rekindle a feeling of wonder toward the great cycle of death and rebirth in nature and in our lives.

Have a JOLLY HALLOWEEN! May fortune smile on you!

Origins of Halloween Customs Part Five: Bonfires

Halloween bonfires are direct descendants of Samhain/All Hallow's fires of the Celts, lit in honor of the weakening sun at summer's end. The fires helped ward off the growing power of darkness and cold.  Perhaps they were meant to strengthen the fire of the sun by means of sympathetic magic. They were also a means of purification.

Even in recent times the ashes of the Halloween (and New Years) bonfires were scattered throughout the community to protect against evil powers and fertilize the fields.  Every hearth fire was first lit for the new year from the Samhain or new years bonfire.In ancient times it was considered an act of great impiety to kindle winter fires from any other source.

In parts of England, a large bunch of wood was gathered, dressed as a person, then burned under the name Le Vieux Bout de l'An, "the old end of the year."   Here again we see a similarity to Yule customs -- the traditional Yule log that burnt all night was originally also dressed as a person.In Scotland we find the custom called "Burning the Witch," which involved burning an effigy and continued well into modern times.

Guy Fawkes Day, named for a rebel who tried to blow up Parliament around the turn of the seventeenth century and celebrated in England on November 5, also involves the burning of a human effigy and is sometimes combined with the Halloween celebration.

These mock sacrifices represented the death of the old year.  Probably such sacrifices were intended to appease the spirits of the dead, for it was believed that the spirits might continue to disrupt human affairs throughout the year if not properly honored.  People often left food out on the table for the returning dead on Halloween.(Another ancestor of our trick-or-treating custom.)
 

To be continued..... more to come about Halloween and Halloween customs and traditions!

Still to come:
Superstitions & Divination Customs
Pumpkins & Jack-o_Lanterns
Black Cats
Witches
Bats & Owls!

The vintage Halloween images in this article are courtesy Lunagirl Images! 

The Origins of Halloween, Part Two: Thanks to the Irish!

The celebration of Halloween was not widespread in the United States until the 1840s, when great waves of Irish immigrants arrived in the States, bringing their ancient Halloween traditions with them. 

The beliefs and customs that surround Halloween today, and the images associated with it in our minds, have their roots in the old Irish/Scottish Celtic festival of Samhain (see my previous post). 

The Celtic people of ancient Ireland experienced the natural and supernatural as existing in very close proximity to each other, and it can be said that on the eve of Samhain -- a potent juncture or break in normal time -- they existed within each other.  

Indeed, it was long believed that a child born on this night will have "double sight"; that is, he or she will be able to perceive and communicate with the Otherworld.  

It was believed that at each of the seasonal transitional festivals, the Otherworld was temporarily upset.  Because it was the juncture between the old and new year, Halloween brought a complete upheaval, and all the inhabitants of the other world were free for the night to work "weal or woe" on any humans they encountered! 

This was the night when the usual boundaries between the dead and the living, the dark and the light, the spiritual realm and the natural world, were transcended.  "The dead" in this case were not entirely frightening; they were simply the Ancestors.

As Christianity moved into the British Isles and Ireland, it continued its time-honored policy of incorporating pagan holidays into the Christian calendar, and Samhain, the "festival of the dead," was re-designated All Saint's Day, in memory of the blessed dead. All Saint's Day is still celebrated on November 1.

Although filtered through Christianity, the traditional customs and beliefs survived in the celebration of All Hallow's Eve, or Hallowe'en.  (The word "hallow" derives from the Middle English halve, meaning "saint.")

To be continued..... more to come about Halloween and Halloween customs and traditions!

 

The vintage Halloween images in this article are courtesy

 Lunagirl Images!

Spinning

This time of year the garden spiders weave webs everywhere.  It was misty this morning, and my son noticed dew-covered webs on the way to school.  I have been seeing them on the bushes out front.  We wondered: why don't the spiders make these webs during the summer?  We only notice them in spring and fall. 

Inspired by the spiders, some thoughts about spinning. Spinning is a magical act -- think how often it appears in fairy tales, like Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin.  Fairy tales are remnants of old mythologies, often girls' initiation stories whose roots are lost in the mists of time. Spinning -- which occupied much of women's time for thousands of years -- was connected with coming of age for young women, and you can see that in the old stories if you look.  You'll find girls and goddesses at their spinning wheels, beauties and brides spinning straw into gold.  Penelope weaving her tapestry waiting for Odysseus to come home.

In European mythology spinning and weaving were tasks nearly always performed by women and girls. Twenty thousand years ago, women were spinning fibers and weaving cloth to create the first fabrics.  Right up until the Industrial Revolution, spinning and weaving and sewing were women's work, sometimes for pay, always a tremendous contribution to the family economy and the larger economy.

A really fascinating book about "women, cloth, and society in early times" is Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. I bought it years ago and just got around to reading it recently.  Couldn't put it down!  Yes, I'm a big-ole history nerd.

Spinning and weaving (like baking and gardening) are transformative, turning one thing into another.  Spinning is sometimes associated with the moon, which measures the months and pulls the tides.  Weaving is associated with dreaming and memory and the creation of a new reality.

In Greek mythology, the Three Fates spin our lives and our fates.Clotho spins the thread, Lachesis measures it out, and Atropos cuts it! In Greek mythology even Zeus feared the Fates (usually called the Moirai). In Norse mythology the Norns are very similar.

On the third night of a child's life, the Fates were supposed to come and determine a child's destiny. Sound familiar from The Sleeping Beauty? Three fairy godmothers?

Spinning stories, spinning lies, spinning thoughts into words, measuring our time and destinies.

One more spinner who often shows up in mythology and folklore all over the world:

Neith, the spinner of destiny, to the Egyptians. Arachne, whose weaving rivaled that of the goddess Athena, to the ancient Greeks. Anansi the trickster in West African stories, who is also the bringer of rain, the king of stories and the giver of gifts such as agriculture.

From the Native Americans, Iktomi the wise/foolish god of the Lakota and Ojibwa dreamcatchers (ever notice that they are like spiderwebs?)  Spider Woman or Spider Grandmother in Hopi mythology is the creator of all life. The spinner/weaver is a very old goddess, and cultures all over the world seem to recognize her.

In the Southern U.S. it is good luck when a spider weaves her web in your house or garden (not the poisonous kind of course!)  So I guess the garden spinners are bringing us good fortune.