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Page 52
There was quite a host of curious superstitions connected with this
midsummer feast, especially in Ireland and Germany, and many of these
were similar to those connected with the feast of _Hallowe'en_ in
Scotland. In Ireland, in olden times, it was believed that the souls of
people left their sleeping bodies, and visited the place where death
would ultimately overtake them; and there were many who, in consequence,
would not sleep, but sat up all night. People also went out on St.
John's eve to gather certain plants which were held as sacred, such as
_the rose_, _the trifoil_, _St. John's wort_, and _vervain_, the
possession of which gave them influence over evil. To catch the seed of
the fern as it fell to the ground on St. John's eve, exactly at twelve
o'clock, was believed to confer upon the persons who caught it the power
of rendering themselves invisible at will.
In my opinion, the great prehistoric midsummer festival to the sun god
has diverged into the two Church feasts, Eucharist and St. John's day;
but St. John's day has absorbed the greater share of old customs and
superstitious ideas, and so numerous are they that the most meagre
description of them would yield matter for an hour's reading.
_HALLOWE'EN._
The northern nations, like the Hebrews, began their day in the evening.
Thus we have Yule Eve, and Hallow Eve (Hallowe'en), the evenings
preceding the respective feasts. The name Hallowe'en is of Christian
origin, but the origin of the feast itself is hidden in ancient
mythology. The Celtic name for the autumn festival was _Sham-in_,
meaning Baal's Fire. The Irish Celts called it _Sainhain_, or
_Sainfuin_; _Sain_, summer, and _Fuin_, end,--i.e., the end of summer.
The Hebrews and Phoenicians called this festival _Baal-Shewin_, a name
signifying the principle of order. The feast day in Britain and Ireland
is the first of November. The Druids are said on this day to have
sacrificed horses to the sun, as a thank-offering for the harvest. An
Irish king, who reigned 400 A.D., commanded sacrifices to be made to a
moon idol, which was worshipped by the people on the evening of
_Sain-hain_. Sacrifices were also offered on this night to the spirits
of the dead, who were believed to have liberty at this season to visit
their old earthly haunts and their friends,--a belief this, which was
entertained by many ancient nations, and was the origin of many of the
curious superstitious customs still extant in this country on
Hallowe'en. Dr. Smith, commenting in _Jamieson's Dictionary_ on the
solemnities of Beltane, says, "The other of these solemnities was held
upon Hallow Eve, which in Gaelic still retains the name of
_Sham-in_,--this word signifying the Fire of Peace, or the time of
kindling the fire for maintaining peace. It was at this season that the
Druids usually met in the most central places of every country to adjust
every dispute and decide every controversy. On that occasion, all the
fires in the country were extinguished on the preceding evening, in
order to be supplied next day by a portion of the holy fire which was
kindled and consecrated by the Druids. Of this, no person who had
infringed the peace, or become obnoxious by any breach of law, or guilty
of any failure in duty, was to have share, till he had first made all
the reparation and submission which the Druids required of him. Whoever
did not, with the most implicit obedience, agree to this, had the
sentence of excommunication passed against him, which was more dreaded
than death; none being allowed to give him house or fire, or shew him
the least office of humanity, under the penalty of incurring the same
sentence." The ancient Romans held a great and popular festival at the
end of February, called the _Ferralia_. At this season, they visited the
graves of their departed friends, and offered sacrifices and oblations
to the spirits of the dead; they believed that the spirits of the
departed, both the good and the bad, were released on that particular
night, and that, if they were not propitiated, these spirits would haunt
throughout the coming year their undutiful living relatives. In all
probability, though the time of celebration is different, these Roman
ceremonies and the Hallowe'en ceremonies in this country had a common
origin. In the year 610, the Bishop of Rome ordained that the heathen
Pantheon should be converted into a Christian church, and dedicated to
all the martyrs; and a festival was instituted to commemorate the event.
This was held on the first of May, and continued to be held on this day
till 834, when the time of celebration was altered to the first of
November, and it was then called _All Hallow_, from a Saxon word,
_Haligan_, meaning to keep holy. This change was doubtless made in order
to supply a Christian substitute for some heathen festival--in all
probability the festival of _Sham-in_, which, as we have seen, was an
old Druidical feast. Some time after this alteration in the time of
holding the feast in honour of the martyrs, in 993, another festival was
instituted for the purpose of offering prayers for the souls of those in
purgatory, and this feast was kept on the second of November, and was
called _All Souls_. The following legend was either invented as a
plausible reason for instituting this additional feast, or the legend,
being previously well known and accepted as truth, was really the _bona
fide_ reason for the institution:--"A pilgrim, returning from the Holy
Land, was compelled by storm to land upon a rocky island, where he found
a hermit, who told him that among the cliffs of the island was an
opening into the infernal regions, through which huge flames ascended,
and where the groans of the tormented were distinctly audible. The
pilgrim, on his return, told the Abbot of Clugny of this, and the Abbot
appointed the second day of November to be set apart for the benefit of
souls in purgatory, which was to be kept by prayers and almsgiving." It
is easy to perceive that, while in the festival of Hallowe'en we have
the survival of the old Druidical festival of thank-offering to the
sun-god for the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, we have also in
these two festivals of _All Saints_ and _All Souls_ the survival of the
ancient _Ferralia_, or festival to the dead, when offerings were made to
both good and bad spirits, to prevent them haunting the living; and thus
we can account for the prevalence of the numerous superstitions
concerning ghosts and evil spirits connected with the festival of
Hallowe'en. That these Church feasts were regarded as the substitute for
the _Ferralia_ of Pagan Rome is verified by Father Meagan in his work on
_The Mass_. We quote from Jamieson:--"Such was the devotion of the
heathen on this day by offering sacrifices for the souls in purgatory,
by praying at the graves, and performing processions round the
churchyards with lighted tapers, that they called the month the month of
pardons, indulgences, and absolutions for souls in purgatory; or, as
Plutarch calls it, the purifying month, or season of purification,
because the living and dead were supposed to be purged and purified on
these occasions from their sins by sacrifices, flagellations, and other
works of mortification." Plutarch, I think, must have referred to the
month of February as the purifying month. Father Meagan has not referred
to the change of date made by the Church. Doubtless the Christian
Church, in instituting these festivals, intended, by divesting them of
their heathen basis, to christianise the people; but, like Naaman of
old, the worshippers, while they worshipped in the buildings in
conformity with the regulations of their new teachers, yet retained many
of their old Pagan beliefs and ceremonies, and even their teachers were
not thoroughly de-Paganised,--and so the old and new commingled and
crystallized together.
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