Samhain, Day of the Dead, Halloween - which one is correct?
La Calvera Caterina by Jose Guadalupe Posada
Let's start with Halloween – the newest of the traditions. In fact, Halloween isn't even a world wide tradition. Halloween is spreading but it is predominantly celebrated in the United States and Canada. In fact, when I was a girl in the 1980's, I asked pen-pals in both the UK and France if they were celebrating Halloween, going out trick or treating and what they were dressing up as. None of them had heard of such a thing. Sure they had a tradition for this time of the year, but it wasn't Halloween – at least not the Canadian or American iteration of Halloween.
Halloween is loosely based on the Celtic tradition of Samhain (pronounced Sah-win) and when I say loosely, I truly mean loosely.
Halloween is celebrated by children dressing up as in costumes that they imagine (or that their parents suggest and then create or purchase). But why? The answer is based in either the Celtic belief or the Latin American belief that this time of the year is when the veil between the living and the dead thins and thus Spirits are able to travel freely into the land of the living. This is where the Celtic tradition and the Latin American traditions differ (more about this later).
In the Celtic tradition, in order to not be attacked by malevolent spirits, people believed that dressing up as a ghost or spirit would convince the real spirits that those in costume were one of them and therefore the real ghosts would walk on by someone in costume. Is there any truth to this? Honestly, who knows. Eventually Halloween evolved into children picking any costume that their little imaginations could create. Halloween expanded from little ghosts and goblins to our current selection of storm troopers, witches, princesses, Mario's, Sonic's and other video game characters including Master Chief,
Why do we carve out pumpkins? Several reasons but here are two interesting ones; Firstly, having the kids on a homestead clean out the pumpkins really helped a busy mom out! Yah, seriously – get the kids excited about getting to carve a face in a pumpkin and they'll participate in pulling that slimy goop out of the inside of the pumpkin! And Secondly, it was believed that carving a scary face on a pumpkin or gourd (gourds were more traditional and using pumpkins is still fairly new) and then lighting up that scary face from within, and carrying this creepy creation around on All Hallows Eve would scare off --- you guessed it --- Spirits.
So how did it come to be known as Halloween? Well, it was shortened from All Hallows Eve, the evening before All Saints Day (November 1st) as decreed by Pope Gregory III. Previously, it had been All Martyrs Day, in honour of all Christian Martyrs as decreed by Pope Boniface IV in 609AD. This celebration had been held on May 13, until Pope Gregory's changes in the 8th Century. So, as you can see, Halloween has had many changes over the years...but at it's heart, it's borrowed from Samhain.
Samhain (Sah-win) is a Celtic tradition celebrated at the end of October, in honour of the harvest, generosity, and with the intent to invoke good luck and good spirits for the coming winter. Oh, and it's considered New Year's Eve!!! This tradition doesn't have a formal date linked to it's beginnings, unlike Halloween, and we will likely never know the exact timing for it's beginnings. Nor are we likely to be able to attribute these traditions to a specific person or geographical locale within the British Isles.
Samhain is celebrated with large bonfires, dressing up as a ghost or spirit in order to ensure that the real ghosts/spirits can't tell the living from the dead, and a generous feast to celebrate the harvest. Samhain was also a great time of the year for Fortune Telling. It was believed that this was the time of the year when Druids would be able to predict the future.
The large fires had/have several purposes...not the least of which is to --- you guessed it (again) --- ward off evil spirits! Traditionally, people would extinguish the fires in their own homes/hearths before going out to the communal bonfire on All Hallows Eve. This extinguishing was part of releasing the Old Year. The communal bonfire would include celebrations, offerings (including throwing a few pieces of the the most recent harvest and maybe an animal or two onto the fire). And of course, blessings from the Druids or Celtic Priests. At the end of the night, each home would take a burning piece of the ceremonial fire back to their own home to re-light their hearth for the New Year.
Day of the Dead is most likely the oldest tradition but due to the dating issues for both Day of the Dead and Samhain, it's kind of like the chicken and the egg – we may never know which came first.
Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico, Central and South America. Day of the Dead differs from Halloween and Samhain as it's celebrated on November 1 and 2 and in some traditions, for up to a full week. And unlike Samhain and Halloween, wherein both have a fear aspect, fear of the dead, fear of spirits, Day of the Dead is a celebration – an opportunity to communicate with the dead, an opportunity to be able to contact your ancestors, commune with them and ask for advice.
As with Halloween and Samhain, dressing up is a tradition within Day of the Dead as well. But with a different twist; Day of the Dead costumes all have a similar theme – the Caterina for the females and the Caterin for the guys. Boys and men traditionally dress in a smart suit or what some would call their “Sunday Best” in order to attract a pretty Caterina.
In order to explain the Caterina, I'm going to borrow and quote from Natural Geographic .co.uk because honestly, I can't even paraphrase this:
“La Catrina was not Latin America’s first grand lady of the afterlife. This honour belongs to Mictēcacihuātl – the queen of the Aztec underworld of Chicunamictlan. Her role was to watch over the bones of the dead, and her presence was front-and-centre during any recognition of those who had passed on.
And where had those souls passed to? The belief amongst the Mesoamericans was that the dead make a journey that descends nine levels to the depths of Chicunamictlan. The ancients' view of death was not a mournful one: they saw it as a part of the cycle of life, and celebrated the departed by leaving offerings on makeshift altars, or ofrendas, that would assist them in their onward trials.
These ofrendas continue to be associated with Day of the Dead, which over the centuries also absorbed pagan and Catholic celebration customs – including the dates of the festival straddling both All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Soul's Day. But the defining image of the modern festival would come later – and from an unexpected source.”
The modern Caterina was created by illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada around 1910. His portrayals of everyone as skeletons in his illustrations brought home the truth of Day of the Dead – in the end, we are all the same, we all die eventually. The very original picture was meant to represent what we today would call Cultural Appropriation – it was meant to insult those who chose to dress like and emulate the envading Europeans. Jose Guadalupe Posada's original portrayal of La Calvera Caterina was updated by the famous artist Diego Rivera when he painted a mural in Mexico City, featuring Posada, Posada's Caterina and Rivera's own wife Frida Kahlo. The Catrina's we see today are loosely based on the art of these two inspiring Mexican artists.
And finally, on the subject of Day of the Dead, if you've ever been in Mexico at this time of the year, you've probably walked past an open window or bakery and smelled a beautiful sweet bread baking in the millions of ovens around the country. Pan de Muertos or bread of the dead is a most wonderful food. There are many traditions for this bread, based on the area of Latin America...but the gist of the bread is this – it's a sweet treat, sweetened with honey, agave syrup or in modern times, sugar. Cinnamon and other spices are also added – the recipes are varied. Hidden within the bread is a small ceramic figurine or a trinket of some kind. The person who gets the trinket or figurine is assured that the ancestors will watch over them and bring them luck in the coming year. Some of the Pan de Muertos is also filled with or topped with a dollop of creamy caramel similar to dulce de leche. Mmmmmmmmm
So Happy Celebrating no matter your traditions – it's clear that the time between October 31 and November 2 was clearly an important time to our ancestors and we need to honour the ancestors.