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| A Halloween pumpkin (photo from Wikimedia) |
I am writing this in Ireland, where we have gone for a break and to go to the Wexford Opera Festival, which runs from late October to early November. After this we return to London so it will be in Ireland that we experience Halloween on 31st October, the same day that this post is published. I always think that is rather a grand word for putting something online in the hope that people will read it. Publishing, to me, involves second party approval, someone being prepared to put their money up to bring a book or article into print. Still, it is the word used by the people in charge of the blog site, so who am I to second guess them?
Being a largely Catholic country, Ireland would not be expected to celebrate the salvation of a British parliament and a king brought up in the Protestant church – James the First of England and Scotland. He was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, a woman who was executed for her support of the Catholic church. In truth, this alone would not have caused her to be executed but her persistent plotting against her cousin Elizabeth the First and her attempts to seize the throne was easily detected and led to her execution at Fotheringay in 1587.
Expecting the son of an inveterate and martyred Catholic to follow her mother’s example, the Catholics of England were disappointed to find that James, brought up in the fiercely anti-Catholic Presbyterian faith to hate his mother (whom he barely knew) and to reject her religion, was a grave disappointment to them. Led by Roger Catesby, they plotted to blow up parliament with James the most prominent victim. The plot, however, was discovered and, by one of those quirks of history, was named after Guy Fawkes. In the end he was caught, taken to the Tower of London where he was tortured to reveal the names of his fellow conspirators. The feebleness of the signature on his confession shows how bad this was. Catesby, the leader of the conspiracy, meanwhile has been largely forgotten by history and the man whose job was merely to light the blue touchpaper and retire is the focus of it.
Even people who are not particularly interested in religion will attend bonfire night gatherings. One of the most popular of these was in Lewes, the town where my late parents lived, and which had something of an anti-Catholic reputation. In these days of ecumenical friendship, that has largely been forgotten now but the Lewes parade which culminates in a huge bonfire in which effigies of unpopular politicians and public figures join Guy Fawkes to be burnt at the stake. (I particularly remember the Argentinian leader General Galtieri at the time of the Falklands war.) In my home town of Littlehampton they have a rehearsal for this parade, which we will miss this year, staying as we are in largely Catholic Southern Ireland.
Instead, we are surrounded by reminders of Halloween in the form of pumpkins, witches costumes and various ghostly artefacts. These have only a tenuous connection with the Christian feast on All Hallows Eve, which precedes All Hallows – or saints – Day and All Souls Day immediately following it on 1st and 2nd November which are Christian feasts of remembrance. However, like many Christian celebrations, there is an overlap with paganism and it conveniently ties in Celtic festivals like Samhain, which have Irish and Scottish roots.
Even trick or treating, which we have imported from the USA now, has its origins in the pre-Christian habit of going from door to door singing songs and being given food in return. This often involved having the faces of the entertainers blackened up and there was a certain element of threat in the way that, if you did not welcome the uninvited visitors, they were allowed to perform mischief on your house – hence the ‘trick or treating’ habit today in which youngsters dress up in costumes and make-up in exchange for sweets and treats.
We seem to be gradually moving from the communality of bonfire night and parades, which once had an anti-Catholic air about them but are now just excuses for a bit of fun, to kids dressing up in costumes and marching around to peoples’ houses with a slightly threatening hint of mischief if their otherwise harmless request for sweets is ignored or denied. You can now get signs which warn trick or treaters in advance if you are unsympathetic to their demands. This seems to be missing the point. What is a threat if you are not allowed to carry it out? However, in the name of ‘harmless fun’, all points of view must be protected so anti-Halloweeners (like me) can avoid being trick or treated in their homes on 31st October.
I prefer a communal parade followed by a roaring bonfire rather than tweens walking around the town where I live in costumes while I wait patiently and give them what they want. In truth, we live in an isolated cottage here and are not likely to be disturbed by trick or treaters who will have to come a long way to find us. If we have a bonfire, it will probably consist of just lighting the fire indoors and watching it burn in the grate behind a door that will be firmly locked. This will be a safe, hygienic and harmless Halloween for us in Ireland.
Edwin Lerner
My other blog is diaryofatouristguide.blogspot.com
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