, refrigerators, penicillin and the flush toilet. Conversely, there were a number of Scottish innovations which probably should never have seen the light of day, most notably logarithms, bicycles, Dolly the Sheep, Gordon Brown, golf, the Bank of England, lawn mowers and Kirin Brewing Company.
Halloween was also basically invented by the Scots though I’m personally unsure which category it should be placed in. Originally, the pre-Christian Celts [1] celebrated their biggest holiday of the year – the festival on the dead – on what is now 1 November. This date marked the beginning of winter and was a time to harvest crops and secure the livestock. The Celts called it Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) and there was always a sinister undertone – this was also the time of the year that the souls of those who had died could mingle with the living on their way to the underworld. It was a time of ghosts, fairies and demons – the dark and dread. [2]
As often happened throughout history, Christianity arrived late and kind of ruined it for everyone. Professor John Santino [3], author of the 1994 book Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life, wrote the following summary for the Library of Congress which I have further edited for brevity:
“Samhain became the Halloween we are familiar with when Christian missionaries attempted to change the religious practices of the Celtic people. As a result of their efforts to wipe out “pagan” holidays, such as Samhain, the Christians succeeded in effecting major transformations in it. In 601AD Pope Gregory the First issued a now famous edict to his missionaries concerning the native beliefs and customs of the peoples he hoped to convert. Rather than try to obliterate native peoples’ customs and beliefs, the Pope instructed his missionaries to use them: if a group of people worshipped a tree, rather than cut it down, he advised them to consecrate it to Christ and allow its continued worship.
In terms of spreading Christianity, this was a brilliant concept and it became a basic approach used in Catholic missionary work. Church holy days were purposely set to coincide with native holy days. The Christian feast of All Saints was assigned to November 1st. The day honoured every Christian saint, especially those that did not otherwise have a special day devoted to them. This feast day was meant to substitute for Samhain, to draw the devotion of the Celtic peoples, and, finally, to replace it forever. That did not happen, but the traditional Celtic deities diminished in status, becoming fairies or leprechauns of more recent traditions.
The old beliefs associated with Samhain never died out entirely. The powerful symbolism of the travelling dead was too strong, and perhaps too basic to the human psyche, to be satisfied with the new, more abstract Catholic feast honouring saints.
All Saints Day, otherwise known as All Hallows (hallowed means sanctified or holy), continued the ancient Celtic traditions. The evening prior to the day was the time of the most intense activity, both human and supernatural. People continued to celebrate All Hallows Eve as a time of the wandering dead, but the supernatural beings were now thought to be evil.
The folk continued to propitiate those spirits (and their masked impersonators) by setting out gifts of food and drink. Subsequently, All Hallows Eve became Hallow Evening, which became Hallowe’en – an ancient Celtic, pre-Christian New Year’s Day in contemporary dress.”
So, the spontaneity of Samhain largely became hijacked by the juggernaut of organised religion. Hallmark did pretty much the same manoeuvre with Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. This year, an estimated 70% of Americans will mark Halloween in some way, spending around US$8 billion or US$80 each (NZ$9.8 billion or NZ$98 each). The festival has been growing in popularity around New Zealand in recent years and Malthouse will be marking All Hallow’s Eve on Wednesday 31 October with a new event – the Halloween Zombie Apocalypse.
From noon on 31 October, there will be three special Halloween themed beers pouring – the last kegs (for now) of the super hoppy and always popular Epic Hop Zombie Double IPA (8.5%), the limited-edition and rarely-seen Newcastle Werewolf (4.5%) Irish Red Ale and the very seasonal and topical Renaissance Great Punkin Pumpkin Ale from their Enlightenment range. [4]
At midnight, a much anticipated beer goes on tap. November 1, the Feast of All Saints, is the official launch date of Garage Project Day of the Dead. Now, the original Day of the Dead was a “chilli chocolate dark lager with agave syrup” released on 1 November 2011 so it’s a pretty special beer. It was also hugely popular and became an “instant tradition” for the Aro Valley brewery.
There will also be spot prizes for the best costumes. [5] To celebrate the Halloween tradition of dressing up, I have included below a link to a YouTube video which shows some rather elaborate Halloween lights on a house doing the whole Gangnam Style song. You are most welcome.
Next time, we drink ambrosia.
[1] Basically, Scotland and selected bits of Ireland, Wales, the Isle of Man and Cornwall.
[2] The nearest modern New Zealand equivalent would be “Late night Cuba Street while The Sevens is on”.
[3] Professor of Folklore at Bowling Green University, President of the American Folklore Society and winner of four regional Emmy Awards for a documentary about trade unions.
[4] I had best not even get started on pumpkin beers… for now…
[5] My current plan is to go as the bass player from Journey, Ross Valory.
Cheers
Beer Writer
Beer and Brewer Magazine
Links
The Halloween Zombie Apocalypse on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/events/414442525282216/?fref=ts
Garage Project – www.garageproject.co.nz
Epic Brewing Company – www.epicbeer.com
Newcastle Werewolf – www.newcastlebrown.com/
Renaissance Great Punkin – www.facebook.com/enlightenmentbeers
House Lights Gangnam Style – http://tinyurl.com/9mzum6a
Malthouse Facebook – www.facebook.com/pages/Malthouse/7084276173
Malthouse Twitter – www.twitter.com/#!/malthouse
Malthouse Taps on Twitter – www.twitter.com/#!/MalthouseTaps
Neil Miller on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/#!/beerlytweeting
Beer and Brewer Magazine – www.beerandbrewer.com/