Once upon a Hallow’s Eve

The pumpkins are carved. The black cats and supernatural emerge from the shadows. The night lasts forever and the eerie thrilling chill surrounds the streets. This means that All Hallows’ Eve has rolled round again.

Halloween has been a huge factor in fantasy, science fiction and mystery genres for quite sometime.

One of the most Famous depictions of Halloween is the annual feasts held in the great hall at Hogwarts. It was the 31st October in their first year, that brought Harry, Ron and Hermione together as the golden trio of the novels, and it all began with that troll.

“A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.

“Harry was just helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore’s chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, “Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know.”

He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.”

– Extract from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling

In the world of magic, Halloween at Hogwarts always played a key role in the novels and films. The first Halloween that the famous trio share remains the most significant Halloween, filled with friendship, mayhem and of course, a troll.

Hocus pocus and the many witches and wizards that came before and after Harry, Ron and Hermione had to get their inspiration from somewhere. You could argue the spirit of Halloween was partly brought to life by Shakespeare. The witches from Macbeth in particular, use the first recorded use of that classic cauldron chant.

“A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.

2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin’d.

3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—’tis time! ’tis time!

1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot!

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg’d i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.”

We can partly thank Shakespeare for starting the trend of the coven of witches and the power of three in supernatural literature for years to come. Shakespeare always had a interest in including ghosts, magic and witches in some of his plays, whether they were comedies or tragedies.

Although, readers may be familiar with the classic Halloween deceptions and themes from JK Rowling and Shakespeare. There is also the lesser known and lesser told story of the origins of All Hallows’ Eve, which eventually evolved into Halloween.

It originated from the old pagan and Druid holiday, which began with the name ‘All Hallows Eve’. In the ancient Druid religion, they saw the 1st November as New Years Day, so they would celebrate their New Years Eve if you will, on what we know as Halloween.

This night was seen as a time for honouring the day, where people believed that a veil between the world of the living and the dead was at its weaknesses, creating the potential they believed for the veil to be lifted. Treats and gifts would be left out as a way to ward off Doritos and entities as people hoped this would mean they would be left alone. People used to carve turnips before they carved pumpkins to warn off evil spirits from entertains their homes.

In literature and life, Halloween has always been a fun scary holiday to celebrate, if you decide too. Since Halloween is tomorrow, I wish all my readers a Happy Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve, and have a spooky night.