Halloween Origins: Why Is All Hallows’ Eve believed to be a good time to divine your future?

By Laurie Siblock

Divination is the forecasting of the future using supernatural means. Samhain (pronounced SOW-in) is the Celtic harvest festival that later became Christianized as All Hallows’ Eve or Hallowmas. It was around Samhain, according to the ancient Celts, people who lived 2000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, that the god of summer is defeated the god of winter and death now presided over Mother Earth.

It’s a special day when the veil between the living and the dead thins. This creates an opportunity for communication between these worlds. During this transformational period between light and dark, and life and death, it was believed that there is an opening—a pause in time when magic is believed to be at its strongest, making it a perfect time for divination, palm reading, tarot and other methods of foretelling the future. It was even a time when fairies were thought to be out in their strongest numbers and thus, they could more easily be seen.

In Victorian times in North America, divination games became popular at Halloween parties, as upper society English attempted to discourage the more destructive shenanigans of Halloween – the unhinging of gates, pulling up of cabbage patches, tipping of outhouses – by moving parties indoors. These parties, intended for young people, like any young person’s party in the Victorian period, became an opportunity for matchmaking. Divinations that aided in determining the name of your intended were very popular at Halloween parties. In one such game, a ring was suspended by a hair over a cup. The number of times it hit the side before it became still coincided with the letter of the alphabet of the future husband or wife’s name.

At All Hallows’ Eve on October 28^th and 29^th from 6 – 9 pm, while the veil between this world and the next is thinnest, we’re anticipating the fairies might be flitting about at the Magical Milburn House. If they are, and if you see them, they just might bless you with a personal strength to carry with you the rest of your life. You may also stop at the Clairvoyant Carpenter Shop to have your future told by a palm reader or tarot card reader. It’s not for everyone. Some would rather keep the future a mystery and that’s okay too. You can always jump ahead and go “soul-caking” at the Feasting Fitzpatrick House.

Laurie Siblock is the Assistant Manager at Lang Pioneer Village Museum. Her role in the Village, beginning in 2006, involves crafting special events and working with special projects like the Jacquard Loom Project and Aabnaabin Camp, a First Nations encampment circa 1825 developed in partnership with Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations.  She is also a member of the Kawartha Truth and Reconciliation Support Group. When not at Lang Pioneer Village, she can be found with her nose in a book, often related to First Nation history and social justice, or working away in her fibre art studio.

Origins of Halloween: Why do we carve faces into pumpkins for our windows and porches?

By Laurie Siblock

Stingy Jack at Lang Pioneer Village Museum's Historic
All Hallows' Eve. Photo by Dawn Knudsen

The carved pumpkin has come to symbolize All Hallows’ Eve as much as ghouls, goblins, ghosts, and witches. But do you know how the Jack O' Lantern has come to be associated with All Hallows’ Eve?

The answer seems to lie in an Irish folktale about a stingy blacksmith named Jack, who was known far and wide as a quick-tempered, unrepentant, too-clever reveler who was fond of the drink. Twice, as the story goes, he made a soul-surrendering pact with the devil and twice managed to trick him into releasing his claim on him, but it all came back on him when he died. 

According to legend, as a sinner who’d had dealings with the devil, Jack could not be admitted to heaven, and he’d unwittingly surrendered his passport to Hades as well through his trickery with the devil. He was thus doomed to forever wander in limbo, a dark and dreary place you’d not wish on anyone. However, the devil, feeling an uncharacteristic moment of pity for poor Jack, tossed him a lump of burning coal from the inferno. This Jack placed in a hollowed out turnip so that at least he had a bit of light to guide his eternal wanderings. 

As this legend grew in popularity, on All Hallows’ Eve, the Irish hollowed out turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets. They placed a light in them to ward off mischievous spirits and to keep “Stingy Jack” away. These were the original Jack-O-Lanterns. 
In the 1800’s, a large number of Irish immigrants came to North America and were introduced to the pumpkins that had been cultivated here by the First Nations. The Irish quickly discovered how much bigger the pumpkins were and how much easier they were to carve out!  Have you ever tried to carve a turnip? It’s not an easy task, so very quickly pumpkins became favoured for carving, lighting and placing on our porches. 
Keep your eyes open on All Hallows’ Eve at Lang Pioneer Village Museum on Friday, October 28 & Saturday, October 29th, for the veil between the living and those that are, well… not living, is thinnest on these nights. You just might catch a glimpse of Stingy Jack wandering like a lost soul. You’ll recognize him. He’ll be the one clutching a turnip with a fiery lump of coal in it.


Laurie Siblock is the Assistant Manager at Lang Pioneer Village Museum. Her role in the Village, beginning in 2006, involves crafting special events and working with special projects like the Jacquard Loom Project and Aabnaabin Camp, a First Nations encampment circa 1825 developed in partnership with Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations.  She is also a member of the Kawartha Truth and Reconciliation Support Group. When not at Lang Pioneer Village, she can be found with her nose in a book, often related to First Nation history and social justice, or working away in her fibre art studio.

Origins of Halloween: Why do we go from house to house trick-or-treating?

By Laurie Siblock

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church competed with Samhain by launching a trio of Christian holidays known as Hollowmas. October 31 became All Hallows’ Eve, then later Halloween, November 1 became All Saint’s Day, and November 2, All Souls’ Day, was named to honour the dead who were non-saints. Rather than offering sacrifices for the dead as the Celts had done, the faithful were encouraged to offer “soul cakes”. A soul cake is a small round cake which was made for All Souls’ Day to celebrate the dead. The cakes, referred to as “souls”, were given out to “soulers” (mostly children and the poor) who went from door to door on All Hallows’ Eve singing and saying prayers for the dead. Each cake eaten represents a soul being freed from Purgatory. The practice of giving and eating soul cakes is often seen as the origin of modern trick-or-treating.

To go “A-Souling”, this All Hallows’ Eve, when you go door to door, instead of “Trick or Treat” say this excerpt of a rhyme from a traditional soul cake song:

A soul! a soul! a soul-cake!

Please good Missis, a soul-cake!

An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,

Any good thing to make us all merry.

Laurie Siblock is the Assistant Manager at Lang Pioneer Village Museum. Her role in the Village, beginning in 2006, involves crafting special events and working with special projects like the Jacquard Loom Project and Aabnaabin Camp, a First Nations encampment circa 1825 developed in partnership with Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations.  She is also a member of the Kawartha Truth and Reconciliation Support Group. When not at Lang Pioneer Village, she can be found with her nose in a book, often related to First Nation history and social justice, or working away in her fibre art studio.

Origins of Halloween: Why do we disguise ourselves by dressing in costume?

By Laurie Siblock

Our modern celebration of Halloween has its origins in the Celtic fire festival called “Samhain” (pronounced “SOW-in”) or All Hallowtide. During Samhain, a time of great feasting that signaled the close of the harvest and the beginning of the winter season, the Celts believed that the barrier between this world and the next was thinnest, and it is on this night in particular that spirits from the netherworld walk among us. Along with the cherished spirits of loved ones, it was believed that mischievous spirits were also set free on this night. To avert these unwanted guests, the Celts hid themselves in ghoulish disguise so that the spirits walking about would mistake them as one of their own and pass by. Masked villagers representing the souls of the dead also attempted to trick the spirits by forming a parade and leading them to the town limits. It was in the 1840’s that the custom of Halloween was brought to America by Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s potato famine. They brought with them favourite pranks such as unhinging gates, destroying cabbage patches, tipping over outhouses and generally raising a ruckus. The custom of costuming first came back into popular practice in the late Victorian era, when the holiday was reinterpreted by upper society English, who desiring to downplay the destructive aspects of All Hallows’ Eve, held parties in their homes and focused on, parlour games, divination, and masquerades.

Laurie Siblock is the Assistant Manager at Lang Pioneer Village Museum. Her role in the Village, beginning in 2006, involves crafting special events and working with special projects like the Jacquard Loom Project and Aabnaabin Camp, a First Nations encampment circa 1825 developed in partnership with Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations.  She is also a member of the Kawartha Truth and Reconciliation Support Group. When not at Lang Pioneer Village, she can be found with her nose in a book, often related to First Nation history and social justice, or working away in her fibre art studio.

The Origins of Halloween

By Laurie Siblock

Halloween has become a much-loved holiday when adults and children alike dress in costume and attempt to scare the daylights out of each other. This frighteningly fun holiday has been around for over 2000 years but its origins were much more serious than the lighthearted celebrations we have today. The history of Halloween begins with the Celts of Northern Europe, a hunting and herding people, who celebrated the harvest as well as the onset of winter when they brought the herds in to shelter. Only the hardiest of the herd were kept and fed over the winter. The others were slaughtered making it a time of great feasting and celebration of the harvest. This communal feast was dedicated to Samhain (pronounced “SOW-in, the word means “end of summer”). Samhain was also the Celtic Lord of the Dead and it was believed that October 31st was the one night when the veil between the living and the dead was most permeable. In an act of self-preservation, people disguised themselves as ghosts and spirits in order to blend in with the real ones and they led parades out of town in the hopes of leading evil spirits away.

In 2009, Lang Pioneer Village Museum, re-invented our Spooky Halloween event to shed light on the historic origins of Halloween. At All Hallows’ Eve between 6 pm and 9 pm on October 28 and 29, the Village is the perfect setting for delving into earlier traditions that have morphed into our modern Halloween customs. Visitors to All Hallows’ Eve will encounter many spirits. They may not be visible (although some people can see them) but they will be here in the shadows, in the whistling winds and gloom of the night. Bring the whole family to experience a fun night of wandering spirits, divination, “soul-cakes”, bone-fires, the magic of the fairies, eerie tales that will astonish you and jack-o-lanterns. Do come well-disguised for, as the Celts believed, the veil between this world and the next will be very thin. You’ll want to blend in.

Laurie Siblock is the Assistant Manager at Lang Pioneer Village Museum. Her role in the Village, beginning in 2006, involves crafting special events and working with special projects like the Jacquard Loom Project and Aabnaabin Camp, a First Nations encampment circa 1825 developed in partnership with Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations. She is also a member of the Kawartha Truth and Reconciliation Support Group. When not at Lang Pioneer Village, she can be found with her nose in a book, often related to First Nation history and social justice, or working away in her fibre art studio.