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Phillips Stevens, Jr., associate professor of anthropology, has spent three decades studying and teaching about cultural anthropology, social organization, religion and cultural change.
What are the origins of Halloween?
Most of the elements in Halloween derive from the ancient Celtic end-of-year festival of Samhain (pronounced Sau-wen). In many agricultural societies across the Northern Hemisphere, the year ends just after the Fall harvest, and many formal activities involve unfinished business from the old year and preparations for the new, which begins with the long harsh winter. The spirits of people who died during the past year are given their final recognition at this time. Other spirits, good and bad, and the various dangerous, supernatural creatures of the night are openly acknowledged and treated with offerings, lest they interfere with the serious end-of-year business that people must conduct. At Samhain, sweets and other food items known to be favorites of spirits were left at rural crossroads and at the edges of villages, and bonfires and large fearsomely carved turnips with candles inside kept the carousing supernaturals outside the village. We must remember that over most of its 2,000 years, Christianity fully acknowledged and erected defenses against a world of natural and demonic spirits. As it spread into pagan areas, it blended with local customs. The observances of Samhain were incorporated into the Eve of All Saints (all "hallows")—probably by Pope Gregory III in the 8th century—to entertain the denizens of the supernatural world in hopes that they would not interfere with the very solemn ceremony of the next day, Nov. 1, when recent Christian entrants into heaven were acknowledged (and later, the lonely souls languishing in Purgatory, with All Souls' Day, established in the 11th century to be observed Nov. 2).
Where do some of the familiar trappings of Halloween—the ghost, jack o' lantern and broomstick-flying witch, for instance—come from?
Ghosts and skeletons are explained in the above discussion; this is the time of year when the past year's dead are recognized. Goblins and monsters are given free reign, but kept outside of peoples' homes by carved pumpkins, this New World vegetable making a superior jack o' lantern (colloquial for "night watchman"), truly the emblem of Halloween. Another emblematic character is the witch, the ugly old crone in black cloak and black conical peaked hat, with broomstick and black cat. These attributes of this creature, the most terrible of all human imaginings, come directly from the witch fears of late medieval Europe. The witch was the agent of Satan, purely evil, dedicated to the subversion of society and embodying society's most terrible fears and repulsive aversions. Elderly widows, in mourning black, living alone and often lonely and friendless, were frequent targets of witch suspicions. The Inquisition had paraded heretics in conical peaked caps; the witch was the arch heretic. The cat was her "familiar," her pet that shared her awful power and went out at her bidding. Witches since classical times flew on a variety of steeds or under their own power. The broom first appears as a witch's vehicle in the mid-15th century. It is a woman's domestic item, and the great majority of witches were women. But it has been shown that a broom handle was used as an applicator of an atropine-laced hallucinogenic ointment, the so-called "flying ointment," a popular distraction from the dismal life in late medieval European cities, and this might explain its association with European witches.
Where does the ritual of trick-or-treating come from?
There are various interpretations of this feature. Clearly, children today play the role of spirits in Samhain. It has been suggested that the custom was begun in North America in the late 19th century by gangs of Irish youths, but there was a prior British history of institutionalized trouble at this time of year, especially in cities. Whatever, its American form is a unique children's event. Halloween represents what anthropologists call "rites of reversal"—ceremonial situations that allow for reversal of appropriate behaviors that typically occur at transitional times between periods of intense activity. Western tradition has had several rites of reversal for adults—New Year's Eve, Mardi Gras, May Day, Oktoberfest, the like; Halloween is really the only such occasion our culture has specifically for kids. It stimulates the imagination by encouraging fantasy, and it provides the excitement of masking and the temporary indulgence of greed—it allows kids to feel they're getting away with something, which is cathartic. But kids know it's temporary, that they must return to proper behavior, so it instills in them a respect for social order, a standard function of rites of reversal.
Why do people like to be scared?
I think Mario Praz' "The Romantic Agony" might offer some suggestions. Also, I am certain that some of our deepest fears, the ones that leave us trembling, our heartbeats racing, from that terrifying and thrilling adrenaline rush that prepares us for fight or flight, are inherent, rooted in our evolutionary biology—fears of strangers, sinister conspiracies, the night, flowing blood, illicit sexual behavior, cannibalism and vampirism, threats to children and death. These fears are universally recognized and culturally accommodated. The witch embodies all of them.
You've spent your academic career studying such things as cults, witchcraft and the occult. How did you get interested in these topics?
My interests in "occult" beliefs began during my experience as a Peace Corps teacher in Nigeria in 1964. I officiated at a championship table-tennis match in which a boy from our school performed an act of sorcery against the other team's players. Students of both schools reacted with terror, and likely would have beaten the boy to death had he not found refuge in the principal's office. This and many other encounters with modes of thinking different from my own persuaded me to study anthropology.
Do I celebrate Halloween?
Certainly! By answering the door with a basket of candy and responding appropriately to kids' costumes. When my kids were young, I guided them through the neighborhood; now I'm at the giving end. Kids love it and it's good for them.
Any last thoughts?
We can share the relief and joy of Washington, D.C.-area kids and their parents, who now can have Halloween! My responses here have been some thoughts by an anthropologist; for a just-published study by an historian, see "Halloween" by Nicholas Rogers (Oxford Press, 2002).