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The Pagan Mysteries of Halloween: Celebrating the Dark Half of the Year
A comprehensive examination of the rituals and philosophies of the Celtic holiday of Samhain, the inspiration for Halloween.
• Presents the true meaning of this ancient holiday and shows how contemporary observances still faithfully reflect the rituals of pagan ancestors.
• Explains why this holiday, largely confined to the English-speaking world since the advent of Christianity, has spread throughout the rest of Europe over the last two decades.
One of humanity's most enduring myths is that the dead, on certain nights of the year, can leave the Other World and move freely about the land of the living. Every year on October 31, when the children of the world parade through the streets dressed as monsters, skeletons, and witches, they reenact a sacred ceremony whose roots extend to the dawn of time. By receiving gifts of sweets from strangers, the children establish, on a symbolic plane that exceeds their understanding, a fraternal exchange between the visible world and the invisible world. Author Jean Markale meticulously examines the rituals and ceremonies of ancient festivities on this holiday and shows how they still shape the customs of today's celebration. During the night of Samhain, the Celtic precursor of today's holiday, the borders between life and death were no longer regarded as insurmountable barriers. Two-way traffic was temporarily permitted between this world and the Other World, and the wealth and wisdom of the sidhe, or fairy folk, were available to the intrepid individuals who dared to enter their realm. Markale enriches our understanding of how the transition from the light to the dark half of the year was a moment in which time stopped and allowed the participants in the week-long festival to attain a level of consciousness not possible in everyday life, an experience we honor in our modern celebrations of Halloween.
• Presents the true meaning of this ancient holiday and shows how contemporary observances still faithfully reflect the rituals of pagan ancestors.
• Explains why this holiday, largely confined to the English-speaking world since the advent of Christianity, has spread throughout the rest of Europe over the last two decades.
One of humanity's most enduring myths is that the dead, on certain nights of the year, can leave the Other World and move freely about the land of the living. Every year on October 31, when the children of the world parade through the streets dressed as monsters, skeletons, and witches, they reenact a sacred ceremony whose roots extend to the dawn of time. By receiving gifts of sweets from strangers, the children establish, on a symbolic plane that exceeds their understanding, a fraternal exchange between the visible world and the invisible world. Author Jean Markale meticulously examines the rituals and ceremonies of ancient festivities on this holiday and shows how they still shape the customs of today's celebration. During the night of Samhain, the Celtic precursor of today's holiday, the borders between life and death were no longer regarded as insurmountable barriers. Two-way traffic was temporarily permitted between this world and the Other World, and the wealth and wisdom of the sidhe, or fairy folk, were available to the intrepid individuals who dared to enter their realm. Markale enriches our understanding of how the transition from the light to the dark half of the year was a moment in which time stopped and allowed the participants in the week-long festival to attain a level of consciousness not possible in everyday life, an experience we honor in our modern celebrations of Halloween.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2001
20 people are currently reading
500 people want to read
About the author
Jean Markale
186 books42 followersJean Markale is the pen name of Jean Bertrand, a French writer, poet, radio show host, lecturer, and retired Paris high school French teacher.
He has published numerous books about Celtic civilisation and the Arthurian cycle. His particular specialties are the place of women in the Celtic world and the Grail cycle.
His many works have dealt with subjects as varied as summations of various myths, the relationships of same with occult subjects like the Templars, Cathars, the Rennes le Château mystery, Atlantis, the megalith building civilisations, druidism and so on, up to and including a biography of Saint Columba.
While Markale presents himself as being very widely read on the subjects about which he writes, he is nonetheless surrounded by controversy regarding the value of his work. Critics allege that his 'creative' use of scholarship and his tendency to make great leaps in reasoning cause those following the more normative (and hence more conservative) mode of scholars to balk. As well as this, his interest in subjects that his critics consider questionable, including various branches of the occult, have gained him at least as many opponents as supporters. His already weakened reputation was further tarnished in 1989, when he became involved in a plagiarism case, when he published under his own name a serious and well-documented guide to the oddities and antiquities of Brittany, the text of which had already been published twenty years before by a different writer through the very same publisher.
Also a source of controversy is his repeated use of the concept of "collective unconscious" as an explanatory tool. This concept was introduced by Carl Jung, but in modern psychology it's rejected by the vast majority of psychologists.
He has published numerous books about Celtic civilisation and the Arthurian cycle. His particular specialties are the place of women in the Celtic world and the Grail cycle.
His many works have dealt with subjects as varied as summations of various myths, the relationships of same with occult subjects like the Templars, Cathars, the Rennes le Château mystery, Atlantis, the megalith building civilisations, druidism and so on, up to and including a biography of Saint Columba.
While Markale presents himself as being very widely read on the subjects about which he writes, he is nonetheless surrounded by controversy regarding the value of his work. Critics allege that his 'creative' use of scholarship and his tendency to make great leaps in reasoning cause those following the more normative (and hence more conservative) mode of scholars to balk. As well as this, his interest in subjects that his critics consider questionable, including various branches of the occult, have gained him at least as many opponents as supporters. His already weakened reputation was further tarnished in 1989, when he became involved in a plagiarism case, when he published under his own name a serious and well-documented guide to the oddities and antiquities of Brittany, the text of which had already been published twenty years before by a different writer through the very same publisher.
Also a source of controversy is his repeated use of the concept of "collective unconscious" as an explanatory tool. This concept was introduced by Carl Jung, but in modern psychology it's rejected by the vast majority of psychologists.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 19, 2023
Reads like a highly academic textbook.
April 9, 2010
Some interesting historical information, but too many tangents for my taste without any strong sense of a unifying argument.
September 11, 2024
AN EXCELLENT FOLKLORIC HISTORY OF SAMHAIN, HALLOWEEN, AND ALL
SAINTS' DAY
French professor and author Jean Markale wrote in the Introduction to this 2000 book, "if we truly wish to grasp the meaning of this carnival-like festival called Halloween and the profound reasons behind its association with All Saints' Day... it is necessary to travel back through the centuries... by exploring the shadowy zones that have sheltered not only their development but also their justification." (Pg. 8)
He notes, "The word 'Samhain' in contemporary Gaelic, designating the month of November, can only be reminiscent of the ancient druidic holiday celebrated at the beginning of the lunar month, on the night of the full moon falling closest to November 1... [Samhain] is 'the weakening of summer' or 'the end of summer.'" (Pg. 14) He observes, "During the night of Samhain, the borders between life and death are no longer uncrossable barriers, and anyone can pass from one side to the other with no problem." (Pg. 63) He adds, "We find these beliefs again in the Christian All Saints' Day and carnival-like rituals of Halloween, although they deviate somewhat from their precursors owing to the slow but steady evolution of spirituality during the early days of the Celtic people's conversion to Christianity." (Pg. 79) He states, "The ancient holiday of Samhain has vanished in the mist. But Samhain survives unconsciously inside this mist to reappear under ... the popular and fantastic Halloween and that of the liturgical and sacred All Saints' Day." (Pg. 83)
He records, "in 607 ... [Pope] Boniface IV, dedicated a church ... it was the ancient pagan Pantheon of Rome that was thereby recovered and Christianized. In this way the Roman gods gave way to the saints of the triumphant religion... it is possible to fix the official beginnings of All Saints' Day... in 731... it was during this year that Pope Gregory III had a chapel dedicated 'to all the saints' built inside the church of St. Peter's of Rome... he made the decision that each November 1 a mass and a special service would be celebrated there... in 837, under the rule of Charlemagne's son... November 1 became All Saints' Day." (Pg. 88)
He says, "The ancient rituals of Samhain were eliminated from the Christian holiday of All Saints' Day, and the evangelists of Ireland took great pains to specify which borders were not to be crossed. Only the idea survived---to wit, the communication between the living and the dead... But this rejection of the pagan ritual did not thereby signify its disappearance. This was when severity was followed by tolerance. It is only the very day of All Saints' Day that homage is paid to to Blessed. Why not leave the previous day, and of course the entire previous night, available for the manifestations---inoffensive at worst---whose intent is to invoke the dead and integrate them... into the great evocation of the saints?... It was better to tolerate the grotesque in a fixed period of time rather than have it loom up right in the middle of a sacred ceremony. Everyone received what he wanted: the clerics, because nothing would tarnish the purity of the religious holiday; and the people, because they felt a need to perpetuate an ancestral memory in respect of all that had gone on before." (Pg. 105-106)
He points out, "Among the Irish, Halloween originally was the belief that during the eve of All Saints' Day the dead... are permitted to return... and to visit their friends and relatives. But ... Might not these latter risk being carried off by the spirits and being unable to return? So people avoided going out on Halloween. However, to display their sympathy for the wandering souls, there was a large number who left their door ajar... the fire was carefully tended and food was left on the table. This would allow the 'visitors' to warm themselves and find cheer... [Then in Scotland] young people ... personify the spirits of the dead by hiding their faces under masks... These children would also go in search of treats... [that] represented the offerings made to the deceased. All these manifestations... crossed over the Atlantic ... subsequent to the massive migration of the Irish to the New World..." (Pg. 110-112)
He admits, "In truth, it is difficult to make out what belongs to the Christian holiday of All Saints' Day and what derives from a properly pagan tradition. Everything is commingled, as if the popular mentality refused as against nature the border between the profane and the sacred..." (Pg. 113) He suggests, "on [Samhain] night there is communication and exchange between the two worlds with reciprocal interaction. On the spiritual Christian plane this leads to the Communion of the Saints, those of the past, those of the present, and those of the future." (Pg. 119)
This is one of the best---if not THE best---historical treatments of the customs and traditions underlying these holidays.
SAINTS' DAY
French professor and author Jean Markale wrote in the Introduction to this 2000 book, "if we truly wish to grasp the meaning of this carnival-like festival called Halloween and the profound reasons behind its association with All Saints' Day... it is necessary to travel back through the centuries... by exploring the shadowy zones that have sheltered not only their development but also their justification." (Pg. 8)
He notes, "The word 'Samhain' in contemporary Gaelic, designating the month of November, can only be reminiscent of the ancient druidic holiday celebrated at the beginning of the lunar month, on the night of the full moon falling closest to November 1... [Samhain] is 'the weakening of summer' or 'the end of summer.'" (Pg. 14) He observes, "During the night of Samhain, the borders between life and death are no longer uncrossable barriers, and anyone can pass from one side to the other with no problem." (Pg. 63) He adds, "We find these beliefs again in the Christian All Saints' Day and carnival-like rituals of Halloween, although they deviate somewhat from their precursors owing to the slow but steady evolution of spirituality during the early days of the Celtic people's conversion to Christianity." (Pg. 79) He states, "The ancient holiday of Samhain has vanished in the mist. But Samhain survives unconsciously inside this mist to reappear under ... the popular and fantastic Halloween and that of the liturgical and sacred All Saints' Day." (Pg. 83)
He records, "in 607 ... [Pope] Boniface IV, dedicated a church ... it was the ancient pagan Pantheon of Rome that was thereby recovered and Christianized. In this way the Roman gods gave way to the saints of the triumphant religion... it is possible to fix the official beginnings of All Saints' Day... in 731... it was during this year that Pope Gregory III had a chapel dedicated 'to all the saints' built inside the church of St. Peter's of Rome... he made the decision that each November 1 a mass and a special service would be celebrated there... in 837, under the rule of Charlemagne's son... November 1 became All Saints' Day." (Pg. 88)
He says, "The ancient rituals of Samhain were eliminated from the Christian holiday of All Saints' Day, and the evangelists of Ireland took great pains to specify which borders were not to be crossed. Only the idea survived---to wit, the communication between the living and the dead... But this rejection of the pagan ritual did not thereby signify its disappearance. This was when severity was followed by tolerance. It is only the very day of All Saints' Day that homage is paid to to Blessed. Why not leave the previous day, and of course the entire previous night, available for the manifestations---inoffensive at worst---whose intent is to invoke the dead and integrate them... into the great evocation of the saints?... It was better to tolerate the grotesque in a fixed period of time rather than have it loom up right in the middle of a sacred ceremony. Everyone received what he wanted: the clerics, because nothing would tarnish the purity of the religious holiday; and the people, because they felt a need to perpetuate an ancestral memory in respect of all that had gone on before." (Pg. 105-106)
He points out, "Among the Irish, Halloween originally was the belief that during the eve of All Saints' Day the dead... are permitted to return... and to visit their friends and relatives. But ... Might not these latter risk being carried off by the spirits and being unable to return? So people avoided going out on Halloween. However, to display their sympathy for the wandering souls, there was a large number who left their door ajar... the fire was carefully tended and food was left on the table. This would allow the 'visitors' to warm themselves and find cheer... [Then in Scotland] young people ... personify the spirits of the dead by hiding their faces under masks... These children would also go in search of treats... [that] represented the offerings made to the deceased. All these manifestations... crossed over the Atlantic ... subsequent to the massive migration of the Irish to the New World..." (Pg. 110-112)
He admits, "In truth, it is difficult to make out what belongs to the Christian holiday of All Saints' Day and what derives from a properly pagan tradition. Everything is commingled, as if the popular mentality refused as against nature the border between the profane and the sacred..." (Pg. 113) He suggests, "on [Samhain] night there is communication and exchange between the two worlds with reciprocal interaction. On the spiritual Christian plane this leads to the Communion of the Saints, those of the past, those of the present, and those of the future." (Pg. 119)
This is one of the best---if not THE best---historical treatments of the customs and traditions underlying these holidays.
October 16, 2020
Abominable. About 24 pages in,I was done,I skimmed through all the rest,it never became the book the title claims it to be. This book has Nothing to do with Halloween or Samhain, despite it supposedly being all about it. I was excited to read a full book on Samhain and the old traditions.
So what was it? I have actually no idea,it was all about ancient calendars,kings, pastureland and pigs. Then bizarre folktales which were deadly boring and had nothing to do with the subject. If he'd just tied this stuff up briefly to Halloween and it had purpose, okay,but it just seemed like he rambled about anything and everything his brain came across!
The writing is exceptionally pretentious and you can tell he's really tried to be learnerd and clever,but it's just horrid. He must have a thesaurus handy because he flings unused words around a lot as if trying to impress the reader. He's also flowery in a bad way and the introduction where he "sets the scene" is particularly cringey.
The random offshoots and tangents aren't just a paragraph,they take over the chapters. The chapter on History of Samhain,it never even mentioned any of the history!! The rituals chapter got hung up on farming and not in a harvest celebration way that would connect with the holiday at hand. It was just horrendous.
I have no idea what the editors were thinking,nor the author or publishers. This book's title is false advertising. Very very disappointed!!!
So what was it? I have actually no idea,it was all about ancient calendars,kings, pastureland and pigs. Then bizarre folktales which were deadly boring and had nothing to do with the subject. If he'd just tied this stuff up briefly to Halloween and it had purpose, okay,but it just seemed like he rambled about anything and everything his brain came across!
The writing is exceptionally pretentious and you can tell he's really tried to be learnerd and clever,but it's just horrid. He must have a thesaurus handy because he flings unused words around a lot as if trying to impress the reader. He's also flowery in a bad way and the introduction where he "sets the scene" is particularly cringey.
The random offshoots and tangents aren't just a paragraph,they take over the chapters. The chapter on History of Samhain,it never even mentioned any of the history!! The rituals chapter got hung up on farming and not in a harvest celebration way that would connect with the holiday at hand. It was just horrendous.
I have no idea what the editors were thinking,nor the author or publishers. This book's title is false advertising. Very very disappointed!!!
December 14, 2021
I think it's interesting that there seems to be a decent amount of controversy regarding Markale's analysis of the history Halloween. I have read other people's comments claiming that it is incredibly boring, rambling, useless, disorganized, and even slightly creepy and concerning at times, due to comparisons made between geographical features and a woman's body. I guess the author of this last comment must be very disturbed visiting the Grand Tetons.
All joking aside, I understand some of the concerns regarding its organization and tendency to ramble. However, I certainly did not find it boring or useless. There is quite a bit of interesting information in Markale's piece, and I didn't have any issues reading and understanding it either. The plain fact is that it's not all that disorganized. It does ramble a little bit at times, but that really does not detract much from the value of the work. I would hardly say that it is an excellent book on the subject, but I think it is solid and has some value for anyone interested in Halloween.
All joking aside, I understand some of the concerns regarding its organization and tendency to ramble. However, I certainly did not find it boring or useless. There is quite a bit of interesting information in Markale's piece, and I didn't have any issues reading and understanding it either. The plain fact is that it's not all that disorganized. It does ramble a little bit at times, but that really does not detract much from the value of the work. I would hardly say that it is an excellent book on the subject, but I think it is solid and has some value for anyone interested in Halloween.
August 14, 2023
I was excited to find this book. However, upon reading it, for me, it fell flat. It was a tedious read. And the writing often felt disorganized and repetitive at times. I'm not sure what I thought it would be like. But it felt very dense. I did learn some things. But overall, it wasn't quite up to my expectations.
August 20, 2020
Yeah this is so scattered and unhelpful. Also weird tangents that made me uncomfortable.m sometimes, like when he compared the burial mound to a woman’s body.
September 26, 2024
this was poorly written
November 22, 2025
Educational
October 31, 2015
This poetic little romp through history is actually a bit more scholarly than Markale's detractors might give him credit for: although he does cite his own previous work an awful lot, there's a body of French scholarship referenced in the bibliography that's not to be sneezed at, and he references the big players (Eliade, Evans-Wentz, Frazer, etc.) as well, so there's that for anybody worried about unfounded fluff.
For the rest of us, this is a nice little meditation on how a pagan holiday morphed into what we now call Halloween. Origins of ancient customs are plumbed and, where not possible to verify, speculated about. We learn exactly how All Saints' Day came into being, and why; we also learn that ASD and Halloween are really two sides of the same coin, if you stop and think about it for a second, and we don't have to keep barking at each other all the damn time about it.
Jon Graham's translation is surprisingly lovely--surprisingly because most French to English translations completely lose the music of the original French. Here, however, you can hear what the original might sound like in the careful choice of tuneful phrases. Footnotes are sprinkled liberally throughout the text, and there is an extensive section of endnotes, as well as a bibliography in the back. If history, mythology, and/or are your cup of tea, this is a good seasonal pick to curl up with and daydream.
For the rest of us, this is a nice little meditation on how a pagan holiday morphed into what we now call Halloween. Origins of ancient customs are plumbed and, where not possible to verify, speculated about. We learn exactly how All Saints' Day came into being, and why; we also learn that ASD and Halloween are really two sides of the same coin, if you stop and think about it for a second, and we don't have to keep barking at each other all the damn time about it.
Jon Graham's translation is surprisingly lovely--surprisingly because most French to English translations completely lose the music of the original French. Here, however, you can hear what the original might sound like in the careful choice of tuneful phrases. Footnotes are sprinkled liberally throughout the text, and there is an extensive section of endnotes, as well as a bibliography in the back. If history, mythology, and/or are your cup of tea, this is a good seasonal pick to curl up with and daydream.
Read
June 1, 2015Some might find this book a bit dry, but I couldn't put it down. Remarkably informative, this book, while it talks less about Halloween than I thought it would, is certainly a one stop cache of information about the history of the highly stigmatized and vastly misunderstood holiday of Samhain and other aspects of Celtic society. It also draws some fascinating conclusions about Celtic influences on the culture and religious practices of today. By the end of the book, I was saddened by the decline of the mysterious and beautiful ancient culture, but I was uplifted by the idea that its legacy has survived today in some of our own traditions. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the Celts, the Gaels, Ireland's roots in general, the driving ideas behind their rites and rituals. This book is definitely getting added to my collection! Enjoy!
September 25, 2008
This was a bit of a hard read. I enjoyed it but there were some rather tedious passages. I suppose in a book like this that has to be expected because the origins of Halloween are so complex that any writer would need to spend a lot of time explaining Samhain’s meaning and background in order to have any hope of explaining Halloween. I wish the author had spent a little more time explaining how modern Halloween practices and traditions relate to those of Samhain. Taken for what it is this book was well written and informative.
July 1, 2014
I got about 20 pages into this book and realized I had learned next to nothing. The author's writing seems more like the ramblings of an unfocused mind. I'm sure the author knows quite a bit about the roots of Halloween, but didn't seem to know how to convey that information. I will not be finishing this book as I'm sure there are others that contain the same, but better presented, information.
October 9, 2012
Definitely an interesting book with lots of information. It is less about Halloween, but it is more to do with the traditions and others things that have inspired the Halloween we know today. Good read.
July 12, 2009
Why we celebrate the way we do.
October 21, 2011
REALLY dry, and the writing style felt really disjointed and hard to follow... He was just all over the place most of the time.
March 30, 2016
Don't think I can finish this one. Very dense with many tangents on folk tales. Interesting read for the right person.
August 30, 2014
A bit academic, but otherwise a very good read, with lots of interesting information.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews