http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/101194.phpA witch speaks out about Halloween DANA CORBY
Published: 10.30.2008
I am forced to respond to the Oct. 21 "Woman to Woman" debate about Halloween and Shaunti's Feldhahn's column, "Respect those who avoid dark side":
Each October, self-styled "experts" flood the media with dire warnings about the "dangers" of celebrating Halloween. They trot out rumors of poisons and razor blades in trick-or-treat candy. They hint that your neighbors are child molesters.
Lately, radical religious groups have been making the astonishing claim that witches put curses on the treats they distribute, so that the children who eat them will be "possessed by demons." There is no truth to any of it.There never has been.
Witches are actually rather ordinary folks; there's not a wiggly nose among us. Unlike most people, though, we spend every October faced with open religious discrimination, based on ignorance and fear.
As worshippers of nature, witches celebrate eight Sabbats: ancient festivals marking the round of the seasons. One of these is Halloween, which we call by its old name of Samhain, pronounced approximately "Sowun." In Gaelic, it means "summer's end."
Samhain is the last of three harvest festivals: the grain harvest Aug. 1; autumn equinox and the apple harvest in September; and Samhain, the cattle harvest on the eve of November.
The idea of a cattle harvest sounds strange today, but in ancient times it was essential. The Celts, like the Masai today, counted their wealth in cattle, but could not keep whole herds alive all winter. So they kept only the best animals for breeding stock, and the rest were blessed and butchered. This was not some occult blood sacrifice, just practical animal husbandry.
It was appropriate at this time to remember the community's human dead. Samhain has always included a ceremony of recalling, by name, our deceased loved ones with prayers for their safe passage.
This is the origin of Halloween's "spooks": the spirits of the beloved dead gathering around one last time for our farewells. We light candles to illuminate the journey from this world to the next, and in reverent silence, we hold our feast, setting aside a portion for our loved ones. For us, this formal letting-go is an important aspect of the grief process.
Many other cultures also honor their dead in ways not unlike those of Wicca. El Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is celebrated in Mexico with civic festivities and gaudy decor equalled in this country only by Christmas.
Italians, with a tradition of honoring the ancestors going back to the Lares of ancient Rome and before, take great care of the family graves, decking them with flowers on important occasions. In Asia, too, a family's dead are still thought of as part of the family and included on important occasions.
These cultures do not feel that it is morbid or inappropriate to remember the dead and commune with them. Only in America is death terrifying and shameful, something children must be protected from learning about and adults are discouraged from contemplating.
Witches do not share the horror of death that pervades modern Western culture. Because we are a joyful people, we hope to avoid death as long as practical, but we do not particularly fear it. Witches see it as a transition, an alternate reality, which in its own manner serves life.
The part of Halloween that makes it Halloween to most Americans is, of course, trick-or-treat. This custom is preserved much more faithfully here than in Ireland and Scotland from where it came, because large numbers of Irish and Scots emigrated just before the old ways began dying out back home.
Trick-or-treat was not originally part of Halloween at all. Right up through the Renaissance, such processions were part of Advent and Christmas.
Along with other yuletide merriment, the processions were suppressed during the Protestant Reformation. But the people just took them underground by moving them to Halloween. Once there, they became confused, or perhaps just mingled, with the legends of the "Trooping Fairies." And the most distinctive part of the modern Halloween was adopted: disguises.
The ancient Celts believed in fairies, as many modern Celts still do. And they believed that at Samhain, the walls between our world and Faerie grew thin.
The fairies were said to ride the mortal lands then, stealing beautiful human children to raise as their own. So mothers "uglified" their children for the night: dirtied their faces, ratted their hair, dressed them in rags - whatever might make the fairies overlook them. And after everyone forgot why, they just kept doing it.
Here's where it gets really interesting. When Europeans began settling North America, they encountered Indian tribes that are today grouped as "Iroquoian."
Among their customs was an autumn harvest festival in two parts: one was spiritual, giving thanks for the good harvest and honoring the ancestors. But the next night the children dressed up like spooks and went house-to-house, threatening vandalism if the owners gave no sweets. Sound familiar?
It seems a shame that something so ancient should be lost for no better reason than ignorance. So what should a modern parent do? Is it safe to send your children out trick-or-treating? The truth is, trick-or-treating is fairly safe if you use some common sense.
Those horrifying tales of razor blades and drugs in candy have happily proven to be an "urban myth." Hospitals have been offering free X-rays of Halloween treats for many years now and rarely find anything.
Only one case of Halloween poisoning has ever been substantiated, done by the child's own father after they came home, for the insurance. (http://www.snopes.com/horrors/poison/hallowee.htm)
How about Satanists? In 1992, the FBI's supervisory special agent in charge of investigating suspected cases of occult or ritual child abuse published an "Investigator's Guide to Allegations of 'Ritual' Child Abuse."
The FBI found no evidence for the rumored abductions, for well-organized (or even slipshod) rings of satanists, or for any other kind of occult-motivated maltreatment of children. (http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/lanning.htm)
Nor are your children likely to have any spells cast on them - on Halloween or any other time. Maybe there are a few "wannabe satanists" around who'd like to cast spells on your kids; the evening news keeps saying there are. But the truth is, they can't. Magic follows natural laws, and it just doesn't work that way.
What the witches on your children's route are likely to do to them is make them mad: If we answer the door at all, we tend to give out healthy stuff instead of candy. One witch I know gives toothpaste!
But real dangers do exist. Every year, trick-or-treaters are hit by cars, get bitten by dogs, fall down stairs. Predatory humans, though few, are real. And excited, sugar-high children are not careful. So their parents must be.
• Make sure that your children's costumes allow them to see and be seen. If you can't talk them out of going in black as Dracula or a ninja or whatever, make sure they carry a flashlight so they're visible in the dark.
• Arrange with your neighbors for a "safe house" on each block; make sure your children know where it is, and not to enter any other house on their route. This could be a great PTA project. Best of all, go with them. Halloween was originally a family holiday; it should be again.
• Finally, ration the sweets once they're brought home. Too much sugar can trigger hyperactivity, hypoglycemia or in rare cases, even diabetes. Anyway, it's bad for their teeth.
But don't worry about what your neighborhood witches are up to. We'll be busy celebrating Samhain!
additional information
TO LEARN MORE
For more information on Wiccan seasonal rites, see your local library or metaphysical bookstore for these and other titles:
"Ancient Ways" by Pauline and Dan Campanelli
"The Truth about Witchcraft" by Scott Cunningham
"Eight Sabbats for Witches" by Janet & Stewart Farrar
"West Country Wicca" by Rhiannon Ryall
"The Spiral Dance" by Starhawk
For an in-depth examination of the laws of magic, read:
"Real Magic" by P.E.I. Bonewits
Dana Corby is a Witch on Anderson Island, Wash. E-mail: danacorby@centurytel.net
