What is Halloween?
We're celebrating this years Halloween by talking about... Halloween. Join me as we explore the history and development of this fascinating holiday, from ancient Celtic roots, to Catholic celebrations and modern pop culture.
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Music by:
Jay Varton
Spectacles Wallet and Watch
Farell Wooten
Sources/Recomended Reading:
Morton, Lisa (2019). "Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween". Reaktion Books.
Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night". Oxford University Press USA.
#halloween #spookyseason #history
Just to confirm something Filip said - I am an old geezer of 68 in England and Halloween was pretty much a non event when I was young . Maybe an item on Bobbing apples on Blue Peter. We kind of knew that there was something creepy about the day but there was a lot of myth and rumour about . So it's been a bit of a surprise how it has caught on . When that process started it was pretty awful as there was a lot of delinquency associated with and it particularly frightened the old and the alone . It seems better now as kids are supervised by their parents and they tend to only go to houses that are decorated for Halloween. 🎃🕸️. Against this I have seen a decline in the public side of Christmas. So there would be carol singers going from house to house at one time - and it has been many years since I saw that . Another change has been Guy Fawkes Night . It was common for kids to make a cart out of an old pram or something , and then create a ' Guy ' and then go to the high st and beg ' Penny for the guy ' . A way to buy fireworks ( bangers in particular ) . Many houses with gardens would have their own bonfires with a few fireworks and jacket potatoes, but that has mainly gone now - to be replaced by big public firework events . Personally the more I have got into mysticism the less I am interested or perturbed by ' spooky ' . Personally I think it emphasizes duality - good bad - whereas as Mysticism emphasizes non-duality . So I practise my own festival called HallowOne 🙂. Peace everyone ✌️🕊️.
Guy Fawkes day was a good way for protestant England to co-opt the fun of Samhain/Halloween and put an anti-papish spin on it.
I don't think caroling was ever as popular here in the states as it was "across the pond," but as a kid I always wanted to do that for Christmas. No luck. The only groups I've ever seen caroling are really nutty Baptists.
In Mexican tradition we light candles in the house windows so that our dead loved ones will be able to find there way home when visiting on the day of the dead.
How? What if every house has candles lit? What if you move away?
It’s obviously a symbolic way give honor and thanks to our ancestors.. A remembrance to our relatives that have past on.. does that make sense to you or no?
@@isaacjrivera8241 it makes sense, but then anything could be symbolic, there is no truth. I could symbolically turn my playstation on all night and my dead ancestors will come and play. If you want to honour the dead, do what muslims do, and feed the poor rather than wasting money on a capitalistic holiday. Yes, halloween is just a money making scam.
@@freeyourmind7538lol
Bravo. That was informative and fun. Your closing, wishing everyone the best in whichever way they are going about their Tuesday, was very sweet and thoughtful.
2:02 *Samhain* festival (of ancient celts) 6:34 Syncretism with Christianity 9:15 Early customs of halloween (mainly in the British isles) 12:53 Spooky aspects 14:44 Historical context of modern aspects 17:03 *Halloween in USA*
i was thinking about syncreticm just now, but i forgot the actual work for it. i was like wait where did i hear about it before.oh yea that halloween video fron lets talk religion months ago,let me go back and look to see if he says the word. skipped around the video a couple times then went to the comment. immediatley seen this comment. you saved me hours of trying to find a definition of a obscure word. thank you !
I find some of the most engaging videos are "origin" videos... Origin of Halloween, Christmas, etc.. The how's, the why's. (Usually Christianity) It's cool seeing the through line of our traditions. I hope you have a great All Hallows Eve as well.
I'd recommend reading Ronald Hutton's "The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain". He's a well-known historian who specializes in such British religious history and his book is a must read for anyone interested in the history of holidays in the English-speaking world.
Hi Filip. Thanks for doing this. Just wanted to point out that Samhain was not Oct. 31. The pre-Christian Celts didn't use the Gregorian Calendar. The oldest Celtic calendar we have is the Coligny Calendar, which was found in France in the 19th Century. Samon was the month marking the end of summer and the start of the new year, but we don't know if the months started on new moons, full moons, first crescent or what.
🎃Happy Halloweenie! 🎃 I'm grateful to learn all of this about Halloween, I was so confused last year as I converted back to Christianity, and heard that Halloween was the Devil's holiday, and Christians can't/shouldn't celebrate it, while my Catholic relatives were fine with it. Thankyou for clearing this up!
Jack o' the Lantern is also what we traditionally call Will o' the Wisp (swamp lights, ignis fatuis) in the Lincolnshire fens, around where much of Americas English settlers came from, which is otherwise linguistically attested
I remember as kids we used to go door to door for a sort of Trick or Treat on the "Char Shanbeh Soori" an ancient Bonfire celebration held on the last Wednesday of the Iranian calendar in the basically Arabic-speaking city of Abadan in Iran in the 1960s.
What is this bonfire about? Curious to know
@@nazifarahman9198 Char-Shanbeh-Soori is a festive tradition that occurs on the final Wednesday of the Iranian year, where individuals collect wood and create seven fires. They participate in a joyful ritual of leaping over these fires while singing, symbolically asking the fire to grant them happiness and good health (represented by redness) and remove any negative aspects like illness and aging (symbolized by yellowness). This celebration serves as a farewell to the old year and a warm welcome to the new year, which is just a few days away. Additionally, during Char-Shanbeh-Soori, children go door-to-door for Trick-or-Treating, and large family gatherings feature food and drinks.
As someone born in India, I had no idea about Halloween until moving to North America at age 7. I have to admit, it’s the most fun time to decorate the porch.
A real treat, Filip, well done, as always. Thank you !
Always great to hear from you
thank you! love these holiday episodes
This was fascinating!!! Thank you so much!!!!! 🧟♀️
Hands down THE BEST Halloween origin video I have seen! Thank you Filip, amazing Shocktober content! 🎃❤
Thank you for a well balanced overview of Halloween!
thanks for all your videos
I've always found it interesting how many Christmas traditions eventually became associated with Halloween. Telling of ghost stories ( A Christmas Carol is essentially a ghost story) going from house to house demanding food/drink, caroling & just general rowdiness by the populace.
Halloween hat nichts mit Weinachten zu tun.Das ist sartanismus was in die Religion gebracht wurde.
Wishing everyone a happy and meaningful holiday- however you choose to celebrate!
Great vid! Happy Halloween! 🎃🎃🎃
Thanks for another delightful and informative post. A Spooky and Happy Halloween to you!
Thank you for this meaningful and heartfelt shocktober video! 🎃
Thank you for sharing . Very interesting and in formative . 🇬🇧💛🤍
Happy Halloween! 🎃 🍂 🖤
I love it! It's so fun!!! 🦇🧛🏼🧝🏼🎃🕯️🦇🔮
Excellent presentation.
Just delighted you pronounce Samhain correctly 😂 Stingey Jack save us from Sam Hain 😅
As a US American it can sometimes feel like we have no culture of our own, just things we borrowed from other countries. But Halloween might just be the number one counter-example, and that's a pretty cool legacy actually.
we have one major shared part of our culture in USA. and that is - seeking freedom from oppression. its basically the only thing thats uniquely american. the rest is eurocentric culture thats kind of forced down our throats against our will. but we are the only eurocentric place on earth thats (supposedly) wiggled out from under the thumb of monarchs. all the other eurocentric countries are functionally still monarchies that trick their populations into thinking there is some kind of democracy happening lol. they all have cultures and governments that place importance on giving those who have had wealth for centuries complete power over them and impunity from the same rules imposed on their population. we at least do have ways of holding most of our lawmakers responsible for bad behavior. that doesnt happen in europe.
There are a lot of uniquely American inventions and traditions, Thanksgiving and Superbowl come to mind. Even more if you look at non-white culture--basketball and jazz are uniquely American and invented by segregated blacks. Also, visit a Baptist sevice in the south, you'll get an American expression of faith and religious practice. Go out west and visit reservation areas, you'll see lots of First People traditions, art, and music. Go to the ethnic parts of major cities, you'll find "old country" cooking, art, abs music, but also "Americanized" twists and entirely new ideas by the generations born in the US. Even what you might call European traditions are often changed by what's on hand and new ideas from the US, as we saw with the Halloween traditions of pumpkins and trick or treating.
happy Halloween! good show bro, and God save us all
this was very interesting and educational. I always wondered about its origin and there were so many unknown sources by just mouth to mouth stories that was told. Thank you for this video, it is convincing and cleared my doubt.
I love that story about stingy Jack!
I love these videos 🐈⬛🎃
I do think its an interesting holiday. I think a lot of people regardless of spirituality, religion, or creed are sort of facinated with the macabre, and Halloween just gives them an outlet for that fascination.
😅Dieses Gruselige Zeug hatt nichts mit der Religion zu tun.
Hope you had a lovely holiday :)
Lovely informative video as always. Thinking about your comments towards the end, I'd love a deeper dive on how different religions handle death overall (like, not funerary or burial rites, more the general teachings, festivals, use of rituals or charms in this area etc) I'd love to hear your input on Dia de los Muertos. I'm also fascinated by the Chinese paper offerings & it's history. You're right to say Halloween had fallen out of fashion in Britain (it certainly wasn't much of a thing in the 50s, 60s, 70s or most of the 80s) however Scotland has always had a strong Mischief Night tradition. Brits have always had a strong identification with Bonfire night though which had many similar traditions eg Penny for the guy being trick or treating.
You said dia de muertos in perfect spanish accent. Props for that
happy halloween!
This is way cool!!!
How interesting that it is enjoyed in Sweden too!
Great video
Great video as always!! I love the aesthetics of halloween, the spookiness and the overall fun, however, as someone living in the southern hemisphere its somewhat paradoxical to celebrate a festivity heavily based on autumn and death, when its spring and everything is coming alive lol (well this is also the case with Christmas, seeing american movies of white snowy christmas while its blazing hot is really something) cheers from Chile
I always wondered about that, if it were me I'd move it to when it made more sense for the local seasons. But obviously then comes the problem of getting everyone else to go along with it.
@@irkendragon In Chile we do celebrate the mapuche new year the 24 of june, its called We Tripantu, but its on a much lesser scale than the world wide new year's. I would bet that other indigenous festivities are celebrated in other parts of the souther hemisphere, they just dont get that much attention.
14:28 That cat doesn't look like a very willing participant in the broom ride...lol
Omg I never knew why Chinese translation of Halloween is something like thousand-saint/spirit day. I thought it was because many ghosts (spirits) are out that day. Now I know it's a rather direct translation from All Saint's Day.
Now I need to find a recipe for soul cake.
Happy Halloween everyone!❤
Thank you. It is interesting to note how here in the UK, several of the old traditions of All Hallows’ Eve have been taken within the celebrations of ‘Guy Fawkes Night’ aka ‘Bonfire Night’ (5th November ). There are bonfires that once marked both the vigil of All Saints and Martyrs, and to dispel the dark spirits (whom the ancient Romans were accused of worshipping by many Christian martyrs), along with ‘bobbing for apples’ around the 5th November. Its an interesting sociological point to see how James I and VI, who was so obsessed with witchcraft, used those folk celebrations to mark his and Parliament’s safe escape from Catholic assassination, and the liberation of the English people a generation earlier from the Catholic Spanish Armada. Lots of themes to explore but too little space here! I live not to far from Pendle Hill, the epicentre of early C.17th witchcraft (or more probably Catholic recusancy!)
Thanks much for this one, especially that Shatner tidbit. 🙃 HAPPY HALLOWEEN to ye! 👻
Nice video, and Happy Hallowe'en. I believe the modern American practice of Trick or Treat comes from a town in Kansas, where efforts were made (eventually successfully) to curb the destruction and vandalism by youths in practices that had been carried to the states (and increased) from the old country. Make parties and costumes and treats take the place of bonfires and window soaping.
It’s my understanding that by the late 19th & early 20th century in the US Halloween was a night for outrageous pranks and vandalism for young people, sometimes being properly disruptive and destructive. “Trick or treat” was more of a threat than a greeting, now so defanged that it’s almost nonsensical. I’m not nostalgic for those days per se but it’s fun to think about! Anyway, happy Halloween everyone!
We still have that in Northern England. We call it Mischief Night. It's celebrated on the night before Guy Fawkes night.
The world's already super vandalized and violent. Guess it isn't that important anymore.
I saw smashed pumpkins & toilet papered trees in early 1980’s upstate NY.
12:24 I think you need the help of good ol' Pazuzu to banish that ghost. 🎃
I wonder if the apple and mirror tradition was at all an influence to the story of Snow White? Also, sounds very similar to the Bloody Mary story
Blessed Samhain! Thank you for this video!✨🎃🖤🎃✨
You've gotta love a lit jack o'lantern. Pumpkins are so jolly.
They are a heck of a lot easier to carve too! Mine's aglow now on the front porch!!!
Will you do a companion video on Walpurgisnacht for 30th April?
In my corner of Europe, Halloween is often seen as an American import. But we do have something similar - Karneval. Where people dress up in spooky or cheeful costumes, and burn a huge a doll symbolizing the worst predicament in the past year (usually depicting a politician or a disease). Then they dance in front of the burning effigy and exchange treats
Now it's Nov, can do one about the pilgrims for U.S.based holiday TG.
Do a video on tengri
Trick-or-treating as we know it began in the late 1920s. In fact, the earliest recorded usage of the phrase “trick or treat” comes from Blackie, Alberta, where in 1927 a newspaper article reported on pranksters demanding “trick or treat” at houses.
@letstalkreligion you should do a christmas video on tomten or nissen.
Spooky!
My Scots father (born in 1945) described how he and his little friends would go 'guising' at Hallowe'en during his childhood. They made lanterns out of turnips and would walk around the neighbourhood offering a performance - a song, a poem, a dance etc - at each door, and be given food as a reward.
Happy Reformation day
To add to the divination aspects, we also have records surviving from Nova Scotia of gaels using Ovomancy (leughadh nan uighean in Gaelic, lit. "reading of the eggs")
In Greece Halloween doesn't exist as a celebration but we have a corresponding one called "Apokria" between February and March. People then dress up in costumes and participate in parties and public events. Our celebration is tied to the last Sunday before the start of the Easter period. But it is less spooky and more funny and limit breaking than Halloween. People traditionally dress up into whatever they might want from Alexander the Great to comedians to skeletons. And interestingly traditionally there is an element of gender play with men dressing as women and women as men. The Greek Church always fraud upon the celebration of Apokria as paganin origin and in fact seems to indeed come from pre-Christian times. But is and has been in the past very popular in Greece. When we first heared through TV about Halloween I remember my little sister asking "why Americans have their Apokria in October?".
By the year 800 was the English and German churches that had begun to celebrate All Saints Day on 1st November. The reason is unclear but the dying leaves and gloomy nature of the month in Northern Europe would seem more appropriate than May as practiced in Rome. As Samhain was a purely Irish festival it is clear that there was no ulterior motive with the English and Germans in the choice of the 1st November. And what makes this even more apparent is that the Irish church celebrated All Saints on the 20th April. It clearly had no need to try and supress Samhain by imposing its own Christian festival on the pagan feast day. But as Christianity had first arrived in Ireland in about 400 it begs the question as to what remained of Samhain rituals and practices several hundred years later? Probably folk customs and superstitions with absolutely no religious connotations.
Love how you can go between Sufism and Hallow’s Eve and keep my interest engaged non stop on what is considered the lowest rung of blooms taxonomy. Well done 👍
At least in the United States (I couldn't say about elsewhere) Halloween has an important place in queer communities, sometimes even being referred to with the secondary title of "Gay Christmas." This is because in previous decades when most places in the country had anti-crossdressing laws it was the one night of the year when this wouldn't be enforced because even straight people might engage in crossdressing for their costumes. Therefore it was the safest night of the year to be in public as a gender non-conforming person, so it was a great time to have big parties. Even though those laws don't exist in the same way there is still a strong enduring cultural legacy around Halloween for queer people and I think this has to do with a lot of the themes in the holiday relating to transgression of normative boundaries.
It's my impression that in non-American societies - they have "fancy dress" parties on a much more regular basis, but we only have costume parties at Halloween.
All Souls Day has origins in some monasteries celebrating masses for the deceased.
Take a look or search for a similar Eastern European celebration, particularly in Romania, on November 29th known as Saint Andrew's Eve. It's also a young peoples' celebration full of vampire and werewolf tales and a lot of fortune telling. It holds a lot of similarities with modern Halloween.
❤❤❤
Happy Halloween!!! 👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻
Finally! Please sort out who stole the holiday from whom! 😂👻🎃
you were not listening love. Start over. He did explain in complete detail.
@@SentinalforGod Well, yes, that was kinda my point... 😉
Hello ween!
Just to mention, in the time of the Celtic druids, the approach of winter meant the inevitable death of some people, times being much harsher back then, therefore Samhain was as much a celebration with loved ones while it was still possible to do so
I’m interested in how you say it’s healthy too acknowledge the darker aspects of human experience. Probably true.
You should look into Carl Jung's work. He talks about this extensively.
India has their own Halloween too, its called narak chaturdashi/ bhoot chaturdashi
are there sufi traditions that believe in ghosts ? Not jins but after death people becoming ghosts ..is there any such belief?
21:22 is that.. Deadpool?
Since Covid trick or treaters have steadily declined in my neighborhood. Upstate NY
Yup...it becomes global..even reach kuala lumpur ...
neat , so halloween is originally a celtic seasonal celebration , wish we knew more about the celts....
Samon began on the dark half if the day on the dark half of the moon at the dark half the year.
"Dia de Muertos" is in North America. Canada, the U.S., and Mexico are in North America. But is more than understandable that someone from a land as far away as Scandinavia would get that wrong. Happy Halloween, brothers...
American tries to remember that there's other countries outside of America challenge (IMPOSSIBLE) (GONE WRONG) As a matter of fact, Filip isn't wrong at all. In most of Europe, including Scandinavia, Mexico is regarded chiefly as part of Central America. Indeed, even the United Nations Geoscheme (which is the basis for the UNSD statistic) uses the same definition: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_geoscheme_for_the_Americas Happy Halloween to you as well! 🎃👻
✌️✌️
🎃
Its the eve of all saints day
I wonder if you have heard of Charshanbeh Soori and Ghashogh Zani in Iran, these are not related to Halloween, and yet there are some similarities.
Great content as usual. On a side note. Kim Iverson asked about who to have on her show. That's knowledgeable on Islam. I told her you. So if she reaches out don't dismiss it. It might not be spam it might actually be her. Happy Halloween from CHICAGO 👻💀🎃
Well he is not knowledgeable in Islam.
@Speedyvampir2 I begg to differ.
@@dennismcmurray7249 cos u don’t have the requisite knowledge.
@@Speedyvampir2 you trolling boi. I'm Muslim ☪️ I read the book. This dude talks of scholars from the past all the time. You don't have a qlue. Move around vic.
@@dennismcmurray7249 talking about scholars of the past doesn’t make you knowledgeable about Islam. I knew u don’t have an idea of what u are talking about.
Love the content generally but you emphasized a bit too much on the American version of Halloween. America didn't add anything specifically unique to Halloween just made it international but all the core aspects of Halloween were well established long before the late 1800s, when it became popular in US. You failed to mention that it was mainly the Irish who brought it to America in its recognizable form. Young Protestant, often puritan America in the mid 1800s didn't take too kindly to the Irish Catholics bringing over their pagan rural superstitious festivals. It took a while to become established there. You also kept saying it came from the British isles; I don't think it was ever celebrated in England until recent years.
To be honest, here in Poland, Halloween hasn't caught. It seems that the festival is too close to All Saints Day and people simply don't have time to celebrate Halloween because they are in way to their relatives' graves or they prepare themselves to cleaning graves at morning of All Saints Day. We have similar festival with fortune telling and magic on Saint Andrew's Eve.
Based Poland
That's so funny and weirdly ironic, Halloween, which is all about being the day before All Saint's Day, isn't really celebrated as much in a place where everyone still celebrates All Saint's Day. Whereas it's the opposite in the U.S. where I've never heard of anyone celebrating All Saint's Day and instead Halloween is huge.
Wearing a William shatner mask 😹
It’s kinda disgusting how the state puts no respect on Halloween Halloween should be off like any other holiday
Thank you for your videos. I need to point out a couple of things: 1) When you talk about "Europe" you mean the whole continent, but when you talk about "America" you mean only the US of A. Sorry, we are all Americans, in Argentina, Canada or Mexico. The founding fathers of the US of A did not deign to give the country a name, just a description the "United States of America"; but that should be your loss, not ours. 2) Mexico celebrates Día de Muertos but Mexico is not in Central America, it is in North America. (geography doesn't care if you speak English or Spanish!) I'm sure you would not use the N word when referring to a person of African descent, please mind the other people who live on this continent as well. Once again, thank you for the videos and cheers.
I never really liked/ got into Halloween. Even as a child I didn’t want to trick or treating 🙄. I know, I know I agree I am odd. I wanted to stay home Oh I AM CELTIC PAGAN 😘
I'm surprised that you didn't mention Niall of the Nine Hostages, whose stepmother's efforts to kill him from his youth were thwarted many times. Upon her death, it was rumored that she roamed the land looking for children to harm. In Irish folklore, this is a possible origin of Halloween.
Certanñley
Halloween and November 1st The Day of the Dead is in remembrance of the great flood. When else in history has so many people perished at one time in one event? It is now something far different. Blessings to you
As a fan of Hancock and Carlson, I've never heard the great flood connected with all soul's day, dia de los muertos, or Halloween. Where did you learn this? Do you have a link so I can look into it?
What is the great flood? Probably the most human death the planet has ever seen at once was during the plague days of the Black Death. Or are you guys talking about alt-facts-woo-woo history?
Gaelic manages to have even less phonetic spelling than English.
True Christianity and Catholicism is not the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably.