Autumn is the season in most folk tales when doors between worlds open. In Celtic lore, October 31st is Samhain (All Hallow's Eve, or Hallowe'en): the night when Arawn, lord of the Dead, rides the hills with his ghostly white hounds, and the Faery Court rides forth in stately procession across the land. In ancient times, hearth fires were smothered while bonfires blazed upon the hills, surrounded by circular trenches to protect all mortals from the faery host and the wandering spirits of the dead. In later centuries, Hallowe'en turned into a night of revels for witches and ghouls, eventually tamed into the modern holiday of costumes, tricks and treats.
Although the prospect of traffic between the living and the dead has often been feared, some cultures celebrated those special times when doors to the Underworld stood open. In Egypt, Osiris (god of the Netherworld, death, and resurrection) was drowned in the Nile by his brother Seth on the 17th of Athyr (November); each year on this night dead spirits were permitted to return to their homes, guided by the lamps of living relatives and honored by feasts. In Mexico, a similar tradition was born from a mix of indigenous folk beliefs and medieval Spanish Catholicism, resulting in the Dias de los Muertos (the Days of the Dead) -- a holiday still widely observed across Mexico today. You can find my article on the Dias de los Muertos and other border-crossing lore here.
Although "Trick or Treating" is an American custom, it's one that has become more and more common among English children too. In my village, kids come to my door expecting to be greeted by the Mouse in the House, who has made her Halloween appearance there for many years now. (Rumor has it that Edith the Pig will join Ms. Mouse this year, courtesy of Katy Marchant's Daughters of Elvin troupe....)
The gorgeous paintings above, by the way, are by Thomas Canty and Brian Froud, two of the very finest artists in our field today. We've recently updated both their pages in the Endicott Gallery -- you'll find those pages here and here.
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