Halloween is a celebration we are all familiar with and is often a controversial one as well since various groups disagree with dressing up as monsters and other ghoulish creatures. A lot of organizations prefer to have fall festivals instead of Halloween celebrations believing it is an evil holiday but the history of it tells a different story. Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic celebration known as Samhain. It was a festival held at the end of the harvest season and is sometimes regarded as the Celtic New Year. It was a time the Celtic pagans inventoried their supplies and slaughtered livestock in preparation for winter. They also believed that October 31 blurred the lines between the living and the dead. The dead were dangerous to the living and were the cause of illness and crop damage or failure and the Celts wore masks and costumes to placate the spirits. 
The term Halloween is a shortened version of All Hallows’ Eve which was the evening of All Hallows’ Day and was a day of northern European pagan festivities which was known as All Saints Day by the church which was a Christian celebration that occurred on May 13 but was moved to November 1st by a couple of 9th century popes. The church measured the days as starting at sunset so All Saints Day and Halloween were celebrated on the same day for a while though now All Saints Day is celebrated the day after Halloween since that calendar system has not been used for centuries. Many in the church see it is a demon worshipping holiday but historically it is the day when the living and dead can communicate for a short time. Halloween as we know it was brought to America in 1840 by Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine in their country.
Some of the traditions and their activities have their roots in historical stories and events. The Romans added some of the Celtic traditions into their own culture and one of those is honoring the goddess Pomona. The symbol of Pomona is an apple which may be an explanation of the modern Halloween tradition of bobbing for apples. Over time the custom of dressing like witches and goblins became more ceremonial than a belief that the dead were actually walking the earth. Trick or Treating is believed to have started as a 9th century European custom known as souling. On November 2nd Christians would roam from village to village asking for pieces of bread with currants baked into them known as Soul Cakes. They would promise to say prayers for the recently deceased from any of the people who gave them the cakes and the prayers were believed to help the soul on its way to heaven. The jack-o-lantern is a holdover from Irish legends about a drunkard named Jack who tricked Satan into climbing a tree and carved a cross into the tree trapping Satan. The tale says that Jack died but was not admitted to heaven because of his bad ways and was not let into hell since he had tricked the devil. The devil gave him a glowing ember to light his way which Jack placed in a hollowed turnip to make the light last longer. The Irish used turnips initially as their Jack-o-lanterns but the newly arrived Irish in America found that hollowed pumpkins made better lanterns and they have been a fixture of Halloween since. Halloween has become a large holiday in America from both the economic and social aspects and only gets bigger each year regardless of how it is celebrated.
One of America’s biggest holidays, St. Patrick’s Day is not the most important day on the Irish calendar. Boiled pork and cabbage becomes corned beef and cabbage when it crosses the ocean and the concept of ‘little people’ becomes a breakfast cereal celebrity once it hit American shores.
So how did the remembrances of Irish Americans become the March madness of a diverse immigrant nation? How did the story of Ireland’s patron saint develop into a drinking fest to rival any German get together? The history of the Irish people is fraught with conflict, persecution, determination and strength and these qualities are best known in the story of a rich boy turned slave turned Catholic priest and eventually, Ireland’s patron saint.
Patrick was born Patricius in Wales during Roman rule, approximately 1, 500 years ago. This young Welshman had little religious faith, came from a good family and lived an easy life. Until of course he was kidnapped at the age of 17 by slave traders and taken by boat to ancient Ireland. Patrick’s life became that of a shepherd as he tended sheep for his master in the hills of county Antrim. County Antrim is in Ireland’s north and is the same county where the city of Belfast is located today.
After several years in Antrim, Patrick claimed to hear voices telling him to escape which he did returning to Wales for a brief time. But the voices in his head would not stop and Patrick consulted a priest. The priest told him the voice he heard was that of God and Patrick had been called to the Catholic faith.
Patrick then traveled to France to be properly trained in the Catholic faith. Returning to Ireland a few years later as a freeman, Patrick preached the gospel and allegedly converted many of the ancient Celts to the Roman Catholic religion. He also advocated for an end to slavery but it would be centuries before the Christian world agreed with him.
Over time, Patrick would become the bishop of a converted Ireland, punctuating the emerald landscape with monasteries. During the middle ages, it was these monasteries and ones like them across Europe that would preserve language and literature during the upheaval of the dark ages. It is believed that the Celtic cross also stems from Patrick’s efforts as he took a traditional Celtic religious symbol of the sun and added it to the Christian cross to show the connection to potential converts.
Other symbols celebrated on March 17 (the date of Patrick’s death) such as the shamrock were often thought to be from Patrick’s influence. The myth that he used the shamrock to teach the Catholic trinity, the belief that he scared all the snakes out of Ireland and the idea of leprechauns as symbols of the day are not true. Leprechauns came from a 1959 American movie, snakes are an ancient Celtic symbol and the shamrock was worn as a symbol of Irish nationalism not of Catholic belief. What Patrick did was provide a legend and a symbol of Ireland that carried across the oceans to the new world.
Celtic Replicas
Isle of Lewis Celtic Chess Set (board and pieces)
Celtic Sun Cross
Celtic Bronze Sword
Celtic Crucifix of Athlone
Celebrated in the Americas for centuries, St. Patrick ’s Day reminds the country of its immigrant roots and diversity of belief. It also reminds us that whether Irish or not, everyone can come together once a year to remember an historic figure who escaped from slavery, spread a religion and gave an excuse for green colored alcohol.
Tags: America, Anicent Rome, Antrim, Catholic, Catholic trinity, Celtic, Celtic Bronze Sword, celtic cross, Celtic Crucifix of Athlone, Celtic religious symbol of the sun, Celtic Replicas, Celtic Sun Cross, Celts, conversion of ancient celts by St. Patrick, Druids, history of St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland, Ireland’s patron saint, Irish American history, Isle of Lewis Celtic Chess Set (board and pieces), Leprechauns, March 17th, middle ages, Patricius, Romans, shamrocks, snakes, St. patrick, St. Patrick’s Day history, St. Patrick’s Day origins
