According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea, after Jesus’ ascension, went to Glastonbury and founded the first Christian Church which became a monastery. St. Patrick who introduced Christianity to the Celts was one of the first abbots. Archaeological excavations indicate the abbey’s ruins are those of Joseph’s church.
Seeds of Church’s Influence on Hallowe’en Planted
In order to facilitate conversion of the Celts, the Church built places of worship on sites where Pagans held their rituals, adapted Pagan sacred days as Christian holidays, exemplified by the Pagan Lughnasadh, Festival of the First Harvest, becoming the Christian Lammas when priests blessed loaves of bread baked from the first reaped grains and embraced Pagan traditions, such as the Christmas tree as their own.
Samhain was targeted to become the day witches, the devil and demons had orgies.
Ghosts of Hallowe’en
Samhain was when the boundary between the living and dead was penetrable, a time to give thanks for bountiful harvests and honor the departed. Pagans didn’t fear the dead.
he Church taught Pagans that their ghosts were evil demons. This is reflected in the ancient Celtic prayer, “From Ghoulies and Ghosties, Long Leggitie Beasties and Things that Go Bump in the Night, Good Lord Deliver Us!”
Skeletons and Tombstones, Hallowe’en Symbols
One Samhain tradition was killing animals that wouldn’t survive the winter so their meat could be preserved. Therefore, tombstones, skeletons, skulls and crossbones symbolized the brevity of earthly life and evoked the fear of death.
Witches and Brooms Become Hallowe’en Symbols
People were becoming disillusioned with the church and its abuses. Church fathers decided a scapegoat was needed and chose to use witches as a personification of evil.
On Hallowe’en, it was alleged, witches rode on brooms to a mountain where they met the devil and demons to hold black masses and perform obscene activities. This led to Hallowe’en decorations depicting witches as ugly crones, astride brooms, silhouetted in a full moon, sometimes accompanied by familiars and black cats.
Black Cats of Hallowe’en
The Church originally favored cats and associated them with female saints. As witches were used as scapegoats, so were cats. Felines, especially black ones, were deemed familiars – minor demons that the devil sent to help witches perform their evil works.
Demons shape-shifted into cats, who assumed the role of a witch’s pet so they wouldn’t be detected. People were also taught the devil created cats and could appear in the guise of a cat and witches could shapeshift into cats and vice versa. This is the basis for the association of the hissing black cat with arched back as a Hallowe’en decoration.
Devil as Hallowe’en Costume
The Celts worshiped Cernunnos, a horned god, also called the Green Man, Lord of the Animals, Hunt or Forest, Stag Lord, Horned God of the Hunt and the Horned One or God. Pagans didn’t believe in the devil. The Church believed the devil existed, but had no image of him. The Puritans based theirs’ on Cernunnos. This is why the devil is depicted as a horned entity and became a Hallowe’en costume.
Jack-O-Lanterns, Hallowe’en Decorations and Costumes
According to Irish legend, Jack was a wicked man. The devil tried to claim his soul, but Jack made a pact with the devil that he wouldn’t bother him for ten years. Jack died before then. He went to Heaven, was denied entrance, so he went to hell.
The devil denied him entrance because of the agreement and tossed him an ember to light the way for his eternal earth walk. Jack put the coal in a mangel-wurzel, a yellowish colored member of the beet family. People fashioned Jack-O-Lanterns from mangel-wurzels until the Irish came to the New World and discovered the native pumpkins. This was the inspiration for Hallowe’en costumes featuring Jack-O-Lantern headdresses and sheets covering people’s bodies.
Articles Related to Hallowe’en’s First Scary Symbols
People who found this article interesting might like to read Cats Persecuted as Familiars along with North Berwick Witches Persecution and Witch of Scrapfaggot Green.
Sources:
- An ABC of Witchcraft Past & Present, Doreen Valiente, (St. Martin’s Press, 1973).
- Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches, Marvin Harris, (Vintage Books, 1978).
Jill Stefko - I'd rather deal with the paranormal than human abnormal - having dealt extensively with both.
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