Halloween

In the early 90s, as autumn set in, many Danish newspapers reported on a new tradition. It was about a celebration which came all the way from America. Pumpkins had their mouths and eyes carved out and were made into lanterns, and children and adults dressed up in spooky costumes. It was Halloween that slowly began to find its place in the hearts of Danes.

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Pumpkins were the center of attention when a group of Danish children celebrated Halloween yesterday. At the Newport restaurant in Hellerup, the dressed up children had fun carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns.

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The holiday was still foreign for a while. Many thought that the new tradition was a dead duck in Denmark, because whats the point of another costume party, when we already had good old Shrovetide traditions.

Yet, Halloween caught a hold on the Danes towards the end of the 1990s. Like many other recent traditions and celebrations, the holiday was imported via American pop culture. The Danes were inspired by films, music, and television from the USA.

In many Danish cities, it may have started with just a jack-o'-lantern at the front door of one house on the street, but today, there are many neighborhoods where children go from door to door and where almost all houses are fully decorated with ghosts, pumpkins, and other spooky things. Just as you can see in "the Halloween episode" in many American TV series.

Halloween might feel like a new tradition, but originally has its roots in a much older history and consists of elements from both Christianity and old Northern European beliefs.

A pagan beginning

The first celebrations of what would later become Halloween, date back much further in history, and not at all in North America - but instead in Irish folklore.

The pre-Christian Celts of Ireland celebrated a great feast called Samhain, which lasted several days in early November. Samhain was both a celebration of finishing the harvest and a celebration of the end of summer and the beginning of winter.

The Celts believed that those who had died during the year travelled to the realm of the dead under Samhain. The dead were thus particularly active these days and moved like spirits among the living. The light from a bonfire helped keep the evil spirits of the past away, which is why fire was an important part of the original tradition.

When Ireland was Christianised around the year 500, the holiday could no longer be associated with the Irish's previous beliefs, and of course it could not have the pagan name Samhain. Instead, the day should have a Christian name, that being 'All Hallow Even'. It eventually became the more idiomatic word we know today: Halloween.

Now the day was to be spent remembering the Christian martyrs and saints. But perhaps the stories of witches, trolls and evil spirits were hiding just below the surface. In any case, there was still a need for a little more light in the night, on the edge between summer and winter. When traditions are mixed in this way, history of religion calls it syncretism and many researchers believe, that the celebration of Halloween is a good example of this.

Across the Atlantic and back again

In the mid-1800s, about two million Irish people fled to America due to famine. They brought their traditions with them, including Halloween.

Since then, the custom has spread and developed. Today, it is one of the biggest holidays in North America. Today, the evening is celebrated almost like a carnival with dressing up in terrifying costumes, creepy door decorations, fireworks and pranks. And so it is the North American version, which has since spread to Denmark and many other countries.

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Although the North American celebration of Halloween may seem far removed from the Celtic Samhain, there are still some clear similarities. We find this in the contrast between darkness and light, among other things. Although we no longer light bonfires, lights in the form of Jack-O'Lanterns are still an important part of the tradition.

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Why carve pumpkins for Halloween?

In Denmark, carved jack-o'-lanterns on doorsteps have become a common sight in the weeks before Halloween. But the tradition is actually much older than that.  There are records from the past 100 years from various Danish regions that tell of placing a Jack-O'Lantern with a spooky face in a place where it could scare others.

In England, Scotland and Ireland, there has long been a tradition of hollowing out different kinds of beets and using them as lanterns. In 1837, the term "Jack-O'Lantern" was first seen used about a lantern carved in a vegetable - not in the British Isles, but in North America. It is also in the United States that the combination of Halloween and a hollowed out pumpkin appears in 1866.

Yet many associate the luminous pumpkin head with Ireland. This is due to the Irish legend that tells of Jack, a lazy and cursing drunkard of a farmer. There are different versions of the legend, but in all versions Jack succeeds in fooling the Devil himself. They make a deal that the Devil must not tempt Jack or claim his soul when he dies.

When Jack dies, he, with his non-pious way of life, cannot enter Heaven. Since he has fooled the Devil himself, he cannot enter the gates of Hell either. Instead, he receives from the Devil a small piece of glowing coal, which can light the way for him on his journey back to Earth. In order for the glowing piece of coal to last as long as possible, Jack puts it into a turnip, and with the light from the lantern, he now wanders restlessly in the darkness between Heaven and Hell.

Old traditions in new clothes

In the 1990s, many predicted that Halloween would not have a long life in Denmark.

At that time, the perception was that a new tradition like Halloween was a commercial invention - an excuse for businesses to sell more. The Danish business community has also been instrumental in making Halloween so popular in Denmark. But more is needed for a new tradition to take root among us. We must have the desire, the energy, and the means to do so, and we must be able to use a new custom for something. Otherwise, it will never become so popular that it can survive in the long run.

Halloween falls at a time of year when there aren't many established Danish holidays or traditions to compete with. On top of that, Denmark is located at a latitude where the contrast between the bright nights of summer and the darkness of winter is particularly pronounced. Halloween might fit in very well here.
 

How do we know this?

The Folklore Archive in Royal Danish Library contains several hundred years of documentation of people's daily lives in Denmark. We have large collections of memories, fairy tales and legends as well as documentation of traditions and folk culture from all over the country. The collection's researchers and archivists work with everyday culture. In the past, people were particularly interested in the country's culture, but today the culture of all population groups is of interest, and our employees work with both historical and contemporary conditions. In contrast to museums, we focus particularly on oral and written stories and traditions.