Many of the holidays that we celebrate in today's world have centuries of history behind them. Many holiday traditions started as a succeed of the blending of a estimate of cultures' celebrations into one holiday. Halloween is a day that is filled with tradition and history, and much of that tradition originated with the ancient Celtic Druids. Without their influence, not only would Halloween be a much separate event than we are used to, but it might not even be a holiday at all.
Druid History
Halloween
Druids were the priests and other spiritual leaders of the ancient Celtic people. Although people today join together the word "Celtic" with Ireland, at the height of their power, the Celtic people occupied most of Western Europe. The Celts were a polytheistic people, with hundreds of gods and goddesses that were worshipped. While some gods were generally known over the population, other gods may have only been recognized by a single village, or even a single family.
The recognized experts among the Celts for worshipping and appeasing the gods were the Druids. In most cases, a Druid held spiritual authority as well as legal authority within their community. They often served as the judicial theory for their region, and many Druids also worked as teachers and historians, preserving the past and shaping the future of their people. The Celts were at last overtaken by the Roman Empire, and the Druids were forced out of their role as spiritual and legal leaders, to be replaced by their Christian-influenced Roman conquerors.
Druidic contribution to Halloween
In an attempt to convert the people of conquered nations to Christianity, it was base for the Roman Empire to take existing festivals and traditions that the local people was comfortable with and blending it with Christian dogma to generate a religion that was at least somewhat familiar. The Celtic festival of Samhain was held to recognize the passing of the fruitful summer season and the starting of the cold winter season. Celebrations of this festival included sacrifices to the Celtic gods and the warding off of evil spirits through the use of masks and costumes. It was view that the barrier between our world and the spirit world, known as the Otherworld to the Celts, became especially thin while this time, necessitating the festival and its rituals to keep every person safe.
In order to acceptable the festival for the Christian-based needs of the Romans, it was soon linked with the Catholic All Saints Day, which was typically celebrated at practically the same time of year as Samhain. Many of the traditions of each celebration were carried over, and as the holiday lost its religious connotations and became a secular holiday, the ancient institution of wearing masks to ward off evil spirits became the contemporary institution of wearing costumes to go trick-or-treating.
The blending of these two ancient holidays' traditions is what gives us the unique practices of Halloween today. Now, when you or you child wear a Halloween costume, you're probably not warding off evil spirits, but trying to get attention instead. When you go out dressed up, though, you are assuming your place in a centuries-old tradition.
Halloween and Druids
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