The Spiritual significance of Halloween

As we head further into October, we near closer and closer to Halloween. While we might nowadays associate the 31st October with dress-up, horror movies, and pumpkin carving, its history is actually very rich, influenced by numerous different religious groups and cultures.

Celtic Origins

The Celtic festival, Samhain (pronounced 'sow-in'), was originally intended to mark the end of summer and the beginning of winter, celebrated from the sunset of the 31st October to 1st November. The Celts lived over 2000 years ago in areas which are now modern Ireland, the UK, and northern France. In Celtic culture, it was believed that Samhain marked a point of liminality, at which point the boundary between the living and the dead burred, allowing spirits to return to the earth, seeking hospitality. While some spirits were viewed as helpful or protective, others were viewed as malevolent. As such, people would attempt to ward off such evil spirits, through lighting bonfires - which were also used as centres of ritual - and by dressing in costumes made of animal skins in order to confuse the evil spirits, and protect themselves.

Francisco de Goya, The Sabbath Of Witches, 1797-98

Druidry was central to the spiritual lives of the Celts, and as Samhain was a large festival on the Celtic calendar, the druids would also lead spiritual rites during the festival. In particular, druids would perform prophecies in order to offer comfort and guidance to the people ahead of the harsh winter months.

Some of these traditions have remained in areas of Ireland and Scotland, in which fires may be lit on hilltops, or food may be offered to ancestors. However, Samhain traditions have now mostly been incorporated into or replaced by what we now call 'Halloween'.

Henry Fuseli, The Night-Hag Visiting Lapland Witches, 1796

Christianisation and All Saints Day Celebrations

The term 'Halloween' is a shortened form of the phrase 'All Hallow's Eve', referring to the night before 'All Hallow's Day' (also known as 'All Saints Day') celebrated on the 1st November. This festival originated in the 9th Century CE, as part of the Church's efforts to Christianise Celtic and pagan festivals such as Samhain.

While some modern Christians refuse to celebrate Halloween whatsoever due to concerns about links to paganism and the occult, early Halloween celebrations in the Christian Church actually were not too dissimilar to Samhain's original principles. Medieval Christianity placed significant focus on the idea of remembering and praying for departed spirits, particularly those in purgatory. As such, All Hallow's Eve became a night of prayer for the salvation of the souls of the departed. Many Christian communities observed this vigil through prayer, fasting, and reflection upon ideas of death, afterlife, and resurrection.

The tradition of 'Trick-or-treating' as we now know it also potentially originated in these early Christian celebrations. In the Middle Ages, the poor would go 'souling', in which they would knock on doors asking for food in exchange for prayers for the dead, was a charitable act linked to All Hallow's Eve celebrations.

Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930

Many other aspects of Samhain celebrations came to become interlinked with with Christian observance of Halloween, including the lighting of bonfires and candles, which came to signify Christ's light overcoming the darkness of evil and death. Most interestingly, the use of costumes were also incorporated into Christian celebrations. In medieval times, Christian communities would dress up as saints, angels, and biblical characters in order to honour the holy dead, and children as well as adults would reenact scenes from the lives of saints, or perform in religious 'mystery plays'. The key feature of Christianised Halloween festivals is a focus on memento mori, meaning 'reminder of death', which was central to medieval Christian culture. As such, the development of costuming centred around death - such as dressing as ghosts, skeletons, or other symbols of death - served as a reminder of the transitory nature of life and a reflection on mortality.

James Ensor, Skeletons Fighting over the Body of a Hanged Man, 1891

In the 19th century, Halloween celebrations reached the United States thanks to migration of Scottish and Irish people, which propelled the celebration into the secularised community tradition it is in the west today.

Non-Western Traditions

Elsewhere globally, local traditions have been merged with the Catholic celebration of All Saints' day in order to create celebrations which have thematic links to Halloween, yet are still distinctly different. For example, in Haiti, Fèt Gede (Festival of the dead) is a celebration linked to Catholic All Saints' Day in which people may visit cemeteries to honour the dead. However, this festival in Haiti has also become interlinked with vodou practises originating in West Africa. In Vodou cosmology, death is not seen as an end but as a transformation, and the spirits of the dead play an active role in the lives of the living. As such, Fèt Gede in Haiti combines Catholic prayers for the dead with rituals to honor the Gede spirits, who are central to Vodou beliefs about death and the afterlife. The Gede spirits are often mischievous but protective, serving as intermediaries between the living and the dead.

Similarly, Mexico and some other areas of central america celebrate 'Día de los Muertos' across the 1st and 2nd November. This festival has its origins in traditional mesoamerican celebrations, such as the month-long festival dedicated to Mictecacihuatl, the goddess of death, by the aztecs, in which the dead would be honoured through the offering of food and gifts. When Spanish colonisers arrived in central america in the 16th century, these local traditions were merged with the Catholic celebrations of All Saints day, similar to how Samhain was merged with Halloween in Europe. 

Diego Rivera, Human sacrifice before Tohil, 1931

Día de los Muertos is characterized by its unique customs, including the building of altars (ofrendas) in homes and cemeteries. These altars are decorated with photos of the deceased, candles, marigolds (the flower of the dead), sugar skulls (calaveras), and offerings of food and drinks the deceased enjoyed in life. The goal is to encourage the spirits to return and celebrate with the living. The holiday also features elaborate face-painting, often resembling calacas (skeletons), and festive processions. Unlike Halloween, which often emphasizes the fear of death and the supernatural, Día de los Muertos focuses on the joyful reunion of the living and the dead. While there is an element of the supernatural (spirits returning from the afterlife), the tone is celebratory rather than fearful. Death is not seen as something to fear but as a continuation of existence in another form.

Whether you just enjoy a slice of pumpkin pie, celebrate traditions such as Samhain or Día de los Muertos, or wish for a momento mori of your own, our Halloween collection is now available to all to browse, giving you a chance to bring your own holy masterpieces home this autumn.