The Dark History of Halloween | The REAL Untold Story

[@MystikManor]

👻 Thanks for watching the Dark History of Halloween! 🎃 I had so much fun creating this video, I really hope you enjoy it! Don’t forget to like the video and hit subscribe to join the Mystik Seekers to uncover even more spooky adventures! 🔮🕸

[@Chronicallynocturnal]

Wow, this video completely changed how I see Halloween! I’ve never seen the story of Halloween told like this before! 🎃👀I had no idea about the ancient origins. The storytelling is absolutely beautiful-so engaging and captivating! Can’t wait to see what you cover next-keep up the amazing work!

[@The4Horsemen421]

I’m always so excited when I get a notification that you’ve got a new video out! Easily one of my favorite channels on YT!

[@MystikManor]

@The4Horsemen421 That's so nice, thank you!💖

[@corinasucre]

Love this channel❤

[@MystikManor]

@corinasucre Thank you so much!💜💜

[@azramedea5316]

Epic fun! I love your videos! Great work. ❤🖤❤

[@MystikManor]

@azramedea5316 Thank you!😊💜 Seriously appreciate your support so much✨💙

[@shadowwood549]

Yes! Been waiting for the new video! And as always it did not disappoint! Waiting anxiously for the next!

[@MystikManor]

@shadowwood549 Thank you!✨So happy to hear.☺️I really appreciate all of your support, it means so much!💙💜

[@shadowwood549]

@@MystikManor Sure thing! I love this channel!

[@lkbee598]

Love the history information. Beautifully done.

[@gailfairweather1515]

Great video I gave birth on Halloween

[@MystikManor]

@gailfairweather1515 Thank you! That's so awesome. It's definitely my favorite holiday🎃 (if you couldn't tell! 😂)

[@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474]

Cool video! A few comments - Completely contrary to what many would have one believe, Halloween is _not_ a holiday that has close ties to the ancient past, nor does it have some ‘pagan’ antecedent, nor is it a continuation of several ancient pre-Christian customs. To say Halloween’s connections to ancient Samhain, or anything “ancient” for that matter, are, at best, extremely tenuous, would be grossly overstating the facts. Virtually all of the customs associated with the modern secular celebration of Halloween developed only in the past 500 years and have no connections to ancient pagan religious practices. Halloween just does not have the “pagan precedent” so many people seem to desperately want it to. As Nicholas Rogers, a history professor at York University and author of _Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night,_ avers “there is no hard evidence that Samhain was specifically devoted to the dead or to ancestor worship, despite claims to the contrary by some American folklorists.” Samhain, originally at least, was less about death or evil than about the changing of seasons and preparing for the dormancy (and rebirth) of nature as summer turned to winter. And as historian, Ronald Hutton notes, “there seems to be no doubt that the opening of November was the time of a major festival which was celebrated, at the very least, in all those parts of the British Isles with a pastoral economy. At most, it may have been general among the ‘Celtic’ peoples. The Gauls apparently celebrated it as well, based upon its appearance on the Coligny calendar. There is no evidence, however, that it was connected with the dead, and no proof that it opened the year.” What is definitively known about Samhain would fit on about a page and a half of paper. What gets passed around the Internet as “history” and “fact” is mostly speculation and utter nonsense. The primary source of what is known comes from the books of the Ulster Cycle. By most historical accounts, Samhain proper was preceded by three days, and followed by three days. In some accounts it’s only a three-day celebration (not a seven day). Samhain seems to have been a time to prepare for winter, to welcome in the dark half of the year, cull the herds and celebrate the final harvest of the year. One particular activity that these old Gaelic texts seem to suggest was very popular at Samhain was…. horse racing. That sounds a lot like many European holidays today from October-January. The texts also speak of it as a time to pay tithings, gather taxes, and the holding of a judicial assembly (much like the Manx ‘Tynwald Day’). And, as Hutton and Rogers note, there is zero evidence that it was a religious observance, that it entailed any ritual, that it was a celebration of the dead, or that it opened the Celtic year (i.e., was the “Celtic New Year”). Further, Samhain was a movable feast day - it didn’t always occur on the same date every year. Anything else asserted to be associated with Samhain is either pure wishful thinking or absolute nonsense. Masks, costumes, trick or treating, Halloween games etc. all either have known traditional Christian origins or simply cannot be linked to anything definitely pre-Christian. Most traditions and customs, even many of the beliefs about Halloween (the dead roaming the world and how the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, etc.) developed in conjunction with the medieval holy days of All Souls’ and All Saints’ day.” Indeed, most of the traditions we associate with Halloween are medieval Christian or early modern in their origin-not “pagan”. With respect to alleged Roman influences - The Romans conquered the Celts around 40 AD and remained in Britain and Ireland for almost 400 years. Because of this, many people assert that these Roman holidays were assimilated with Samhain celebrations. However, this contradicts the typical Roman strategy of letting the natives/conquered people practice their own customs with as little interference as possible from Rome. Ferālia was an ancient Roman public festival celebrating the Manes (Roman spirits of the dead, particularly the souls of deceased individuals) which fell on 21 February. This day marked the end of Parentalia, a nine-day festival (13-21 February) honoring deceased ancestors. Note the dates here. To suggest that this was somehow incorporated into Gaelic Samhain doesn’t stand to reason. Not only is the date completely off, but as mentioned, there is no historical evidence that Samhain had anything to do with the dead and/or honoring ancestors. It’s a complete mismatch of dates based on a false assumption about Samhain. Pomona is attributed to the apple activities of Halloween, most notably, bobbing/ducking for apples. Most historians are doubtful however that the Romans ever had such a celebration called Pomona. There is a goddess of fruit trees called Pomona, but she does not appear to have had a day set aside for her observance. There was one for her consort, Vertumnus, celebrated in August, and some historians believe Pomona may have also been celebrated, but there is no historical proof of this. The Pomona celebration error can be traced to a misreading of a passage in Marcus Terentius Varro’s De Lingua Latina, which specifies August as the month of the Vertumnalia (celebration of Vertumnus, the god of seasons, change, plant growth, gardens and fruit trees.). It first describes certain festivals in August, and then in a separate sentence says that the Vertumnalia is observed “at that time” without further specifying a date. The sentence after that goes on to describe a festival in October, the Meditrinalia (celebrating the new vintage of wine). Thus, Vertumnalia came to be erroneously associated with early October and with it the alleged celebration of Pomona. As previously stated, bobbing for apples is a fall activity not specifically connected to Halloween and comes from a British woman’s courting custom historically attested to about the 1300’s and the activity is even illustrated in the Luttrell Psalter, an illuminated manuscript written in the 14th century. As far as costumes go, in addition to claiming it was a practice at Samhain, many people will also attribute the origin of Halloween costumes to the Medieval practices of guising, mumming and souling. Guising and Mumming are more associated with Christmas than All Saint’s Day/Halloween and there is little historical evidence that souling was done in costumes. Think about this logically for a moment. Souling was typically done by the poor who barely had enough to eat, let alone have money to spend on valuable cloth to make costumes of saints. Though souling and Trick-or-Treat both involve going door-to-door and getting treats, they are two completely different things. Historical similarity does not equate to historical sameness. People kind of forget that. Trick-or-Treat Trick dates to about the 1920’s-1930’s or so and comes from right here in North America. In short, it’s a relatively new phenomenon and represents a mix of cultures, capitalism, and accommodation.