The Origins Of Halloween | Samhain & All Hallows' Eve 

I love Tim in TRHPS and I think you did a great job. The longer hair does lean towards Kiss, two costumes for the price of one. Keep being you, because that's who we love 💕

A Samhain tradition - to learn more about Samhain and Halloween in Ireland. Can’t wait to see this!

My husband's students call him King Cringe and he's even gotten a logo made for it 😅. I'm going to isolate that audio of you saying "King Cringe is in the house" and send it to him.

Argh...shall be in church. Have fun everyone! Shall watch when I get home! 😊

The reveal was a lot of fun and so was the history lesson! But you never did tell us what kind of sweets you guys get over there.

Spooky season history and character session! Brilliant 🎃👻

Whelp, now I know what the love child of Cher and Paul Stanley would look like. I ain't mad.

Your ability to multitask like this is beyond me. Thank you so much for the tidbits of Samhain information. The end result was amazing.

Your Frank n Furter looks like a Goth Metal Rocker! EPIC!!!!!!

Spooky 👻🎃

Both the history lesson and makeup were very enjoyable. You look like Johnny Depp doing Jack Skellington doing Frank N Furter. Love it!

Waiting for this with .. Antici ..,..,Pation!

Good morning friends! I work 30 mins past showtime but will try to be here as much as I can.

Ciao Stuart! In Italy I believe that Halloween has only been celebrated since about twenty years ago, in fact when I was a child reading Peanuts I didn't understand what children did on the night of October 31st... however there have always been traditions regarding the deceased , in Sicily for example, children receive little gifts from grandparents and other relatives who are no longer with them. I find this a sweet thing.

Cinco De Mayo celebrates a battle between the Mexican & I think the French might be Germans. Dia de los Muertos is what you’re thinking which is the Mexican Day of the Dead.

I never thought I needed booktok's thirst trap, and yet here you are in my notifications

I woundn’t miss this!!

Trust the process! Lol! You look great! Frankenfurter with your own spin! ❤

Thank you for the history lesson, it was really fun to learn while watching you have fun putting on your absolutely fabulous Time Curry look 🖤🖤🖤

Stuart I hope you feel better. Thanks for the Irish side reminder of Samhain (Sow-ween) I'm a celtic witch and celebrate the Celtic New Year every year and the costume btw... totally tits up.. amazing job. Keep going, depression is rough but you're amazing. 🥰

Great video! i love the look too. My Pagan heart is so happy right now. Thanks from Canada.

You did very well explaining the history and truth. Stay healthy, happy and safe always. Blessed be

Can't wait!!!

OMG IM SO BLOODY GLAD YOU DID A VID ON SAMHAIN!!! ITS ONE OF MY FAV HOLIDAYS THAT I LOVE TO CELEBRATE AND IVE ONLY SEEN PPL IN MY GC CELEBRATES IT- BLESSED SAMHAIN!!!! I made soul cakes :3

Stuart this was awesome, diolch for the giggles 😃 ❤

This was a lovely and entertaining video!!! Fantastic job!!! ❤❤❤❤

Love this and I thought the make up was pretty good!! Interesting to learn about the origins of Halloween too! Thanks 😊

So excited to see this 🎃👻

i can’t wait for it

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 Best celebration!!! And that look is just so PERFECT 😎

This is gonna be fabulous!

ohhhh 🎃🎃🎃

Thanks for keeping me entertained 😁

You dedefinitely owned that look. Thank-you for teaching me a bit and reminding me of other things. I appreciate that you take your time and share with a bunch of internet strangers. ✌😎🤘

This was a fun one! Thanks Stuart!🎃

Paul Stanley Vibes just before you mentioned Kiss😂❤❤❤❤

This was a fun video, loved learning more about Samhain, and the finished look was 🔥 🔥. And the live chat was fun!

"One video" 😉 Enjoyed the process - love how it came together 😄💖

I watched this during the live premiere and forgot to comment! This is highly entertaining and you did a fabulous job 😊

I've seen Rocky Horror live twice. Both with David Bedella as Frank. Got to meet him a couple of years ago, which was very surreal.

Stewart, you need to look up our man Johnny Ross. His makeup tips are fantastic!

Great job! ❤❤❤ Thanks for the Samhain history! 🎃 🎃 🎃

This was so much fun.😂❤❤❤❤

This was fun. Thanks for the storytime 😀

This was so much fun and I always enjoy learning more about Samhain. It was fun to be in the live chat and the finished look was amazing 🔥🎃👻

Looking forward to it.

Yesss spooky session ❤️‍🔥 I want to hug the Jumba plushies

I loved this!! Your make up skills are really good. 😂😂❤

We missed you. PS. Your makeup (actually your whole cosplay) looks hot🔥🎃🍀

You did a great job on your makeup!! And loved the history of Samhain lesson. I think I first heard about it was when I watched “Trick r Treat.”

Well, I can check that "boyo" of my bucket list...

Thank you for another great video

It was a good summary. Now PLEASE please please please please bb PLEEEEAAAASE do a ton of content in that costume 😅

Oooh yay 😃

As a pagan I really appreciate, that you tell the people about the pagan origin and the traditions of halloween /samhain. I teach this also in school and as I see, I do it right. ;) By the way, Christmas is the germanic new years celebration and it is kind of similar in some way (when you know the traditions of the perchten ;)). The very most christmas traditions are also pagan, but most people don't know, or don't want to know.

Goody goody goody Samhain 🎃🎃

KISS vibes for sure! Carved turnips are way more terrifying than pumpkins! Love all the Samhain history, will you do more fairytale readings? 🎃🍬🍭👻

First time watching. Was not expecting those arms.

Yay

I'd never heard the story of Stingy Jack before .. fascinating history of Samhain ! For not being sure what you were doing with your makeup, it turned out on point - a hot Dr. Frank-N-Furter and I love (and want!) your top and gloves. Love what you do to surprise us - very entertaining vid! 😍👻 🎃 xo

My Da told me Samhain was how tribal chieftains got rid of village idiots and other ne’er-do-wells by sacrificing them to the god Lugh. We simply MUST bring it back. Lugh could benefit from his very own Dail.

Great job.

❤❤❤❤❤love it❤❤❤❤❤

Looks good

Speaking as a former member of the Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast in Pgh, PA, USA...you did a very nice Frank'n'furter, esp for a first try. And VERY nice to learn of your traditions, too.

Gorgeous darling! Seriously though you did good!

Thank you. You are lovely

😁😁😁😁

Oh, Stuart, I missed you ❤.

Hey! Jumba! Plushie spotted!

The Mexican holiday you were thinking of is Dia de los muertos (I probably spelled it wrong)

Yup it is

PART 2 - Two other holidays that are said to have influenced Halloween come from the Romans: Ferālia and Pomona, but let’s look closer at these holidays that allegedly played a role in Halloween. 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. 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. Let’s briefly look at three other traditions associated with Halloween: Carving pumpkins, Trick-or-Treat and costumes. Again, these are commonly and mistakenly associated with Samhain. I’m sure you’ve heard it before - Samhain was the night that the veil between the spirit world and the physical world was thinnest and evil spirits could come through to the physical world. To counter this, the ancient Celts donned costumes of animal pelts to either ward them off or to blend in with them. At this time, people left food and treats on their porches for the deceased to appease them so they wouldn’t trick them. Carved vegetables were lit by candles to help ward off these evil spirits. Without going into all the lengthy details, the carving of root vegetables, turnips, moots and beets in the British Isles and Ireland, dates to around the 1600’s - it’s just not historically attested any earlier than that. So, no Druids going around with carved turnips warding off evil spirits. 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. So, if Trick-or-Treat doesn’t come from the ancient Celts or Medieval guising, mumming and souling, where does it come from? 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. If you’re over 50 years old, and they are still living, ask you grandparents if they ever dressed up for Halloween - you might be surprised to hear their response! Trick-or-Treat came about as a reaction to the vandalism committed on something called “Hell Night”. This was a tradition which was brought over from Ireland and Scotland where there existed a custom on Halloween night of playing simple pranks on neighbors. The Irish/Scottish version was known as “Mischief Night” and was originally done in May, but later got moved to October. The pranks practiced “across the pond” typically consisted of nothing more than leaving animal gates open, or turning street signs around so they pointed the wrong way, etc. In short, relatively harmless pranks. Sadly, when this custom was brought to America, by the 1920’s it devolved into nothing more than organized vandalism and in many cases, it became quite nasty - serious destruction of property and cruelty to both animals and people were unfortunately rather common occurrences. It is thought that the declining economic conditions of the time (which eventually led to the Great Depression of the 1930’s) likely played a large role in negatively influencing “Hell Night”; it became a way for some people to “vent”, as it were. As a result, neighborhood committees, local city clubs and even the Boy Scouts mobilized to organize safe and fun alternatives to this destructive vandalism. Children were encouraged to go door to door and receive treats from homes and shop owners, thereby keeping troublemakers away. By the 1930’s, these “beggar’s nights”, as they were called, were very popular and started becoming practiced nationwide with the greeting “Trick-or-Treat” gaining widespread usage from the late 1930’s on. The earliest known reference to the phrase in print dates to November 1927 and comes from Alberta, Canada. It does not appear in the US until about 1938. So, the Halloween begging activity known as “Trick-or-Treat”, contrary to what many churches and religious organizations would like people to believe, comes from right here in America in the 1920’s, not the ancient Celts, nor Medieval ‘guising’ or souling. The activity was intended to control and displace disruptive pranks - that’s it! Nothing more than that should be read into it. The blood, the guts and the gore one sees today associated with the holiday originated relatively recently and comes from good old Hollywood. With the introduction of classic horror movies like Frankenstein, Dracula, the Invisible Man, and The Mummy, Halloween started to become more about the blood and gore than simple scary disguises. Halloween has become a time to play on a few of the basic/core fears of man - fear of what lurks in the dark, and fear of death - the aspects of these fears that people just don’t like to think about, are now exposed for all to ‘see’ and ‘experience’. A sort of annual self-check to make sure that part of our humanity is still there, so to speak. Knowing this about the origins of Halloween, one can see that the assertions by many religious groups around this time of year warning against the pagan and demonic origins of Halloween, Satan worshipping Druids, etc. are completely unfounded and have absolutely no basis in historical truth. As one commenter puts it, “This smear campaign against Halloween, in which it has been scapegoated among Christians as the ultimate manifestation of secularism and satanism in contemporary culture, only goes back to fairly recent modern times when certain Christian groups resorted to any fanciful tale to counter the emerging counterculture of the 60's and 70's that they perceived as corrupting youth. Christian leaders have clutched us in a guilt trip ever since about a holiday which, prior to this extreme reaction, was indeed harmless for the most part like any other holiday and had no connection with satanic rituals. It was a cultural festival which, though mischievous at times, really posed no threat to society until we were forced to believe that it did.” As one can clearly see, Halloween and its associated customs really have no ties to an ancient or pagan past nor are they inherently evil or demonic in any way. As mentioned earlier, 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. All three holidays, Halloween, All Saint’s Day, and Samhain share a common date and perhaps a “feeling”, but that’s really about it. Indeed, so much of Halloween “feels” Pagan that attempts to connect those things to ancient Samhain simply “feels right”. But in the end, there is really no connection at all.

❤️‍🔥

We do Winter Night. To Alfather, Freyr, and Freya. Honor our ancestors. Wine and food for the dead.

Samhain blessings to those who observe! 🖤🔥🕯️

Which idiation of Frankinfurter you wanting, Tim Curry was my favourite? Its called guising in Scotland. Yes in times gone by a tumshi (turnip and carving ig out!). We used to go guising when i was a kid. We had songs and routines ready! Kiss-n-furter! X

❤

I'm dorry I missed this.

Meatloaf for dinner again !!

Spending my Halloween with you, Hay on you want to look someone out of the Rocky Horror Show! ? Cool Please do the time Whorp song?

Hello gorgeous! I have been binging your videos and shorts. I want to reach through the screen and shake you until you realize how amazing you are. By the way, I worked with Tim Curry on Home Alone Two and he would have loved that you tried this look. In fact, he would have loved you, wink, wink, nudge, nudge

Thank you for the history lesson 👏👏 love learning about true origins behind current holidays celebrations. I think it's a beautiful tradition of samhain, hallows eve, all saints. Celebrating life and death. Thank you. 👏✨✨✨ carving turnips as a ready resource, going to a pumpkin gourd with just a larger surface to carve. Very cool. Lighting bonfires as guides to celestial celebrations 🔥👏👏 very very beautiful traditions thank you. Also Stuart you make a wonderful frankenfurter very sexy 👏👏👏✨✨✨✨✨✨

Dia de Muertos is the day of remberance for the dead

What kind of treats do you give out in Ireland?

The day you're thinking of in Mexico is Dia de los Muertos. I think its celebrated Nov 1st. Also, don't hate me but when the video opened I thought you were shooting for Kiss.

Day 2 of requesting Hollynn as Nesta and Stuart as Cassien

i never used pumpkins for my kids i used turnips they was a git to carve out as i was brought up by my Irish nan she would do it for me so i did it for my kids as it was a reminder of what she used to do for me

Reminded me v of whatshisface from ĶII... OH GOD words ... it's fallen out of my head,

I can fix them ❤❤❤

👻👻

I loved them, to see all beasts as creation of God makes me understand why they need a daily meal. How good is that Starbucks you share with him/her? His face has that appearance because he needs a shower. It can be difficult to control the laughter when I get tickled. It would be nice to see you and him in person 💞

Hihi

Im irish

Confused Conco de Mayo (lit 5th of May aka Mexican Independence day) with Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Where is our live chat??

I learned a lot but you did look more Paul Stanley. (Not a bad thing)

You need blush for your cheeks (both sets). I’ll help. 😊

You look good 👍 reminds me of Beetlejuice 😅

Not Cinco de Mayo (that literally just means the 5th of May) 😂 It’s Dia de Los Muertos or day of the dead. Watch the Disney movie Coco