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Asahikawa American English Conversation School

Halloween

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The origins of Halloween can be traced back more than 2000 years to the Celtic People ケルト民族 who lived on an island in the North Atlantic Ocean.  An island we know today as Ireland.   These people had a calendar that showed November 1 as being the beginning of winter.  Therefore, October 31 was winter's eve.   The occasion was celebrated by dressing up in strange costumes and dancing around big bonfires.  I wonder if they were drinking some kind of Celtic brew as well.  Sounds like a fun party.  Fire is closely related to the Sun which is the giver of all life on the planet earth.   As such, The SUN is a god.  Or so the people of that time believed.   On our modern calendar, the sun starts getting lower and lower in the sky on or about September 22, the Autumn Equinox.   The SUN will continue its daily decline towards the horizon until about December 22, which is known as the Winter Solstice.   For the Celtic People, the movements of The SUN, The MOON and the other planets and stars, were their guiding lights as to how life should be lived, and at what times during the year certain events should take place.   Remember, we are talking about a lifestyle that existed more than 2000 years ago.  In the days before MTV.   Looking up into the sky was how they knew what time it was, and also what must be done during that time.

This Celtic Festival was known as Samhain ソーエン in the local language.   As related to the movements of the stars and planets, it symbolized the harvest season and the end of summer.  The next day would be the start of winter.  A time of year that is closely associated with death.  Do you enjoy the beautiful reds and oranges of the autumn leaves every year?   I certainly do.   But, they last only for a short time until they all fall to the ground and become brown.   It is the beginning of the end of the year.   A very harsh time of year.    The Celtic People also believed that the veil of separation between the world of the living, and the world of the dead, was at it's thinnest during this time of the year. Therefore, the spirits of the dead could, and would, cross over into the world of the living during this brief time.   And only during this one day of the year.     In Japan where I live, they have this same concept of a STAR GATE  that opens only once a year.  Over here, we call it Obon お盆 and it happens in the middle of August.   Because this STAR GATE was open on October 31 for the Celtic People, the ones among them who claimed to have supernatural powers which allowed them to communicate with  the many spirits that came through the open star gate, they could make predictions for the future.  The common people listened to these esteemed elders, and found comfort in their words of hope, and caution in their words of warning, for the coming year and beyond.

While the Celtic People were dancing around the heat and fire in their strange and wonderful handmade costumes, they were also burning some crops and animals as a sacrifice to their gods.  They believed that this would bring good fortune to them in the coming years.  As the celebration progressed and the huge bonfires got smaller and smaller, each and everyone of the people attending the festival would take a burning ember from the fire and bring it back to their homes so that they could light a new fire in their home hearths.   A new flame of light and warmth, and a new feeling of hope for the future.

The Celtic People continued to live their traditional lives according to their native belief systems until about A.D. 43 when the Roman Army decided to invade their territory.   Many things happened as a result of the Roman Empire's excursion into Celtic lands, but the one that I would like to talk about in this essay, is its connection to the way Halloween is celebrated nowadays.  As you may already know, one trait of the Roman Imperialists was to mix their culture with that of the native cultures in the lands that they have invaded and occupied.   They would create something new out of two or more  old things, something that everyone could comfortably live with.  In fact, the Romans combined two of their festivals with the Celtic Samhain.   One of them was Feralia held in late October which is the Roman observance of the passing of the dead.  This fit perfectly with the Celtic Samhain and thus, a new tradition was born.   The Romans occupied Celtic lands for more that 400 years!  But even after they left, many of their customs and much of their language was left behind, and had in fact, become a living part of Celtic culture.   This is where we can see a clear trail from the past to the present in our Halloween customs of today.

Sometime around A.D. 799, Christianity spread its gospel (good news) to the Irish islands.  By some stoke of luck or good fortune, a Christian celebration called All-Saints Day was held on November 1.   Another good overlap with the Celtic Samhain.  Again, another new tradition was born.  In the English language of the Middle Ages, the holiday was called Alholowmesse, meaning All Saint's Day.  The evening before this day became known as All Hallows Eve.   Can you see the next step with the progression of the language?    Today it's called Halloween.  In 100 years from now, what will we call it?   Who knows.

I have many fond childhood memories of Halloween.  For one thing, there was free candy!!!   Say what???  Tell this to any 6 year old child and they will most likely say;  "Free Candy?    Where do I have to go?    What do I have to do?    To get free candy?     Put on a strange costume?      I can wear that!"     Kids will do anything to get candy.    I was one of them.  I went out at night into my neighborhood, dressed up as various things for about 5 years until age 10.  Some of the costumes me and my mother made were;  A Hobo 浮浪者, A Ghost お化け,  A Samurai 侍,  and a few other popular outfits.   It was a mystical and magical eve, with good smells and good flavors.   In modern tradition, many people  get a great big pumpkin and carve it up into the image of a face.  I am of course talking about the Jack-O-Lantern.  This is an expression in old-English which today would be rendered as "The Watchman's Lamp".   I made a Jack-O-Lantern every year when I lived in the USA, and a few times since I have lived in Asahikawa.   Not only is the light of the candle inside the carved pumpkin dipping and dancing with shades of yellow and orange, but the burnt smell of the pumpkin flesh, is a wonderful sensation as well.  If you have never made a Jack-O-Lantern before, please give it a try.  It is a truly enjoyable experience.

Even adults in the USA have Halloween Parties.  Some of them are wild and bizarre.  Innovative costumes, a vat full of witches' brew, some low vibes on the sound system, and it's party time!   However, the main focus of Halloween seems to be children.   In the USA, children will dress up in costumes and walk around in their neighborhoods ringing doorbells and saying "Trick or Treat!"   Trick or treat really means, "Give me something good to eat 　美味しい食べ物　or I will play a trick 　いたずら　on you.  Most of the people who are visited by the "trick or treaters" open their doors and give the kids something good to eat.  We even had a song that goes like this "Trick or Treat.  Smell my feet.  Give me something good to eat.  If you don't, I don't care.  You can smell my underwear!"    However, some people turn off all of their lights and pretend to not be at home.  These are the unfortunate people who get some standard tricks played on them.

What type of tricks am I talking about?   Well for starters, there is the decorating of trees and/or the house itself using Toilet Paper (TP the trees,  TP the house).  How is this done?   Well, you need a big fat roll of toilet paper or two and a good throwing arm.  First, you unroll about two meters of paper from the roll, letting it hang down to the ground, then you throw the roll of TP up into a tree as high as you can.   Naturally, the toilet paper will continue to come off of the roll both on the way up and on the way down.   You can then, once again,  pick up the roll of TP and throw it up into the tree again.  You do this as many times as you can until the toilet paper is all gone.  When you are finished, you have a green tree with long strips of white toilet paper hanging down from all directions.  Beautiful!   A simulated snowfall on the last day in October.

Another popular trick was to soap the windows.  To do this, you need a big fat bar of soft white soap and a big window.  If you take a bar of soap and rub it on the window glass, you will discover that the soap leaves white lines on the windowpane.   You can draw pictures, or write words and leave messages.  Such as "Ya stingy old fart!  Where is my candy?"   Bar soap is easy to apply to windows.  It is also easy to wash off with just water and a soft  brush.   A variation on this trick, is to use a wax candle instead.  Wax is also easy to apply to a window.  Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get off.   Using water and a brush will not remove the wax from the glass.  You need to use a razor blade and scrape it off little by little.  This tends to make the home owner very angry.   As it was intended to do.

Perhaps the nastiest trick that a child might play on a home owner is;   "The Burning Dog Poop Trick".   This involves a little bit more planning to carry out quietly and successfully.   First, you need to find some dog poop laying around somewhere on the ground.   A two or three day old dog turd makes the ideal candidate.    When you find it, you pick it up and put it in a paper bag.  Then, you roll up the paper bag with the dog poop inside so it looks like a cigar.  With the poop filled bag in hand, you approach the front door of some hapless home owner.   Placing the poop bag on the front porch, you drench the paper bag with lighter fluid.  Then, using a match or a lighter, you ignite the nasty package, ring the doorbell and run away from the scene of the odorous mess, as fast as you can.   When the home owner answers the door, he will see the burning glob on his porch and panic.  His first reaction is to put out the fire.  Most victims will use their foot in an attempt to stomp on the fire and put it out.  This is exactly what the tricksters had intended to have happen.  Not only does the burning bag of dog poop get bigger, but the home owner gets a gooey smelly mixture of poop and petroleum all over their shoes!  What a mess!

Of course, I myself have never participated in such tricks during Halloween, (Ha ha ha ha!) but some of my friends did and I watched them with much amusement.   My house also was hit by pranksters on several occasions during Halloween over the years.  Most of these pranks are relatively harmless, but sometimes there are more serious crimes that take place which can cause damage to property.  It's OK to have good laugh once in a while, but harming other people or their property in the pursuit of this fun is stepping over the line.

Have an enjoyable, but safe Halloween.

Norman Delaney
October 31, 2005

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