Newswise — Hans Broedel, a medieval historian at Hamilton College (Clinton, N.Y.), says that Halloween is rooted in Celtic tradition, and in that culture many ghosts were friendly, coming back in the form of animals, including crows and cats. "Ghosts in the form of people, such as those we see in movies, are more common today than in the middle ages," Broedel says. "Exceptions were the grumpiest, scariest medieval 'ghosts' who academics called 'revenants' and were the animated corpses of the returning dead."
Broedel explains, "The reason that Halloween is spooky is that in Celtic tradition the dead are allowed to come back to earth during Samhain. As in Dickens', A Christmas Carol, the ghosts love coming for special holidays. However, most Halloween traditions are Christian. Trick-or-treating was collecting alms for the poor in order to save your soul."
Diabolic witches were a 15th-century creation, and in England were sometimes also said to take the form of their "familiars" --cats, bugs and toads. The notion of a witch as a woman who flies through the night, with the big hat, green face and evil agenda is relatively recent folklore, according to Broedel.
Broedel explains that although many misconceptions about medieval spiritual life are rampant today, some Celtic Halloween practices have been preserved, such as making jack-o-lanterns, although with a bit of a twist. They used turnips instead of pumpkins.
"They carved jack-o-lanterns out of turnips. So teach children a little history lesson and preserve Halloween fun at the same time: try a turnip-carving session," Broedel suggests. "One of the nice things about jack-o-lanterns made from turnips is that you can actually use them as lanterns. Children suspend the carved root from string or a forked stick and carry it around when they go out at night."
Broedel is the author of a book about witches, The Malleus Maleficarum and the construction of witchcraft: Theology and popular belief (Manchester University Press, August, 2004).
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