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Tracing the Colonial
Roots of Halloween
The malls and department stores in the
Philippines, particularly in Metro Manila, are cashing in on Halloween.
They are adorned with cobwebs, bats and other creepy items while some of
their workers are required to dress as witches or devils. This is their
way of advertising the Halloween costumes that are very much in demand
this time of the year. For those who want to throw Halloween parties as
well as those who want to know more about the Halloween tradition, it is
imperative to set the record straight as regards the occasion’s origins.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
 Entering malls or
department stores of late, one finds himself face-to-face with witches or
Jack o’ Lanterns. At any given time inside the mall or department store,
one may rub elbows with ghosts, headless zombies or even Count Dracula.
Indeed, the malls and department stores have joined the Halloween
bandwagon.
One could get so
fascinated with the Halloween motif that he or she would be lost on how
the tradition came to be. Given their profit orientation, malls and
department stores cannot be expected to enlighten the public on the
matter.
Origins of
Halloween
It is not yet known
when exactly Halloween began to be observed, but it is said that the
practice goes back more than a thousand years.
The Celts, a tribe
in Ireland and the island of
Great Britain, were the first to come up
with a Halloween-like observance. They had a feast called Samhain
which they observed on the exact day that Halloween is observed at present
(i.e., October 31).
In the Celtic
calendar, the new year begins on November 1. There is, in many Western and
Eastern cultures, a fairly common belief that spirits roam around on the
eve of a new year. The Celts were no exception.
Incidentally,
November 1 is also known in Britain
as the beginning of winter, and expectedly the Celts found their crops at
the lowest point of growth at around this time. This may have contributed
to the Celts’ perception that evil spirits were at work at the start of
the new year.
The Celts observed
Samhain to ward off evil spirits. They slaughtered cattle and used
the latter’s bones to light huge fires. These were aptly called bone
fires. (The latter is believed to be the origin of the English word
“bonfire.”) With the bone fires ablaze, people extinguished all other
fires in the community, and families lit their hearths from the common
flame.
Roman invasion
of England
England
was invaded by the Holy Roman Empire in 100 A.D., and the Romans occupied
it for the next 300 years.
They imposed on the
Celtic inhabitants of England
a variant of Christianity developed by the Empire from the creed of Jesus
Christ’s followers who were persecuted for decades after his death (circa
33 AD). With the coming of the Romans, the Celts learned to observe
Allhallows Day on November 1, a day for remembering important Christians
who died. The day is now known as All Saints’ Day.
But the Celts
retained some of their folk traditions, including that of giving
importance to October 31. The Celts called the evening before November 1
Allhallows E’en or holy evening. This was later shortened to
Halloween. The Celts continued the Samhain practices in their
observance of Halloween.
The influence of
the variant of Christianity brought by the Romans to England spread to
other parts of Great Britain and eventually to Ireland. Roman Catholicism
survived in much of Ireland, unlike in England, Scotland and Wales which
were wracked by religious upheavals in the 16th century.
The U.S. then
experienced a wave of Irish immigration in the 19th century.
Irish immigrants introduced to the U.S. their unique culture, among them
their observance of Halloween. The latter became popular and was
assimilated into the mainstream American cultural scene.
In the latter part
of the same century, experiencing a crisis of overproduction, the U.S.
went on an expansion drive aiming to secure additional markets for its
products. A number of Irish immigrants who became citizens became part of
the invasion forces that the U.S. sent to Puerto Rico,
Cuba, and the Philippines, among
other countries.
Filipino
Halloween as Colonial Influence
It was during the
American colonial period that Filipinos were introduced to Halloween.
The idea of
Halloween had no difficulty being accepted by Filipinos, the local
folklore having its own share of ghosts and spirits.
Not too many people
are aware of the origins of Halloween. Interestingly, its observance in
the Philippines has become very popular.
Such popularity
prompted malls and department stores in the Philippines, particularly in
Metro Manila, to cash in on the annual tradition.
With all the hoopla
surrounding Halloween, one is reminded of the crass capitalism that
transformed revolutionary leader Che Guevara and protest musician Bob
Marley into fashion icons of today’s generation. No thanks to the fashion
capitalists, many people have taken fancy on their images without going
into the substance of what they really fought for.
In the case of
Halloween, it is important to know its historical context to see through
the commercialism that blurred its well-meaning intention during the time
of the Celts. Bulatlat
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