Suspicions confirmed

 

This is the video I´ve been waiting for all year. Now, can we *finally* lay to rest all the manufactured controversies surrounding Halloween? 

Short form: no, it´s not Samhain. Nor is it All Hallows Eve. It is...modern American! 

No surprise there. I long suspected that most "ancient traditions" or "pagan survivals" aren´t older than the Middle Ages, and that many are in fact very new. Halloween is no exception. While the presenter tries to be as objective as possible, my impression is that there is very little real evidence for a connection to Samhain. Rather, we are dealing with folk customs that can only be documented from the 14th century onwards. The "evil" reputation of All Hallows Eve seem to come from Protestant propaganda during the Reformation, directed against witches and Catholics.

During the 19th century, this older form of Halloween pretty much died out on the British Isles, but got a new lease of life in the United States. Indeed, most of what we associate with Halloween today is American and comes from the 19th or 20th centuries. Originally a children´s holiday (this version peaking during the 1950´s), Halloween was recast during the 1970´s into a kind of horror film/pop culture variety more suitable for adults. 

And here we are. The presenter, who speaks English, is actually Swedish and he is quite right that Halloween (in its modern American form) is celebrated here, as well. I think it began at some point during the 1990´s and gradually spread pretty much everywhere, even to kindergartens and schools, were kids dress up as skeletons or what have you. Pumpkins and jack-o´- lanterns are also part of the picture, but I haven´t seen a "Scream" mask for years. 

What´s less clear is when the damn thing is supposed to be celebrated. Both Swedish Wiki and a Church of Sweden website (sic) proposes October 31, but I´m old enough to remember that American Halloween was originally celebrated in Sweden on the same day as All Saints´ Day, which drew more conservative Christians mad, as Swedish TV would show tons of horror flicks on this solemn Christian holiday! In Sweden, All Saints´ Day is always commemorated on the Saturday that falls between 31 October and 6 November, so the two occasions can still collide, but not as often. Besides, I get the impression that Swedes today celebrate Halloween pretty much when they feel like it, albeit in the general timespan of late October/early November. 

All that being said, it would be fascinating if people 500 years from now would celebrate American 20th century Halloween in the belief that it´s a pagan survival from a time truly primordial...