Every year, costumes, confectionery, and decor make their way to the shelves to commence the start of the Halloween season. The shift towards a retail-driven holiday shows the loss of traditions that originally inspired this time of year, increasing waste and encouraging us to spend.
Origin
Halloween is a direct ancestor of the Celtic festival, Samhain. During this time of year, there was a focus on respecting the dead and forestalling any evil spirits. This festival was religious in nature, rich in Pagan belief.
In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III shifted the celebration of All Saints Day to November 1. This aligned the Christian holiday directly with the timing of the Celtic festival.
The day before All Saints Day, October 31, soon became known as Halloween (after All Hallows’ Eve). Halloween absorbed Celtic traditions and folklore, disregarding the Pagan beliefs. This turned the day into a somewhat Christian reinterpretation of Samhain.
Halloween is celebrated in many ways that can be attributed to Celtic traditions, but the meanings behind why we celebrate in such ways are often forgotten.
Jack-o’-lanterns
One of Halloween’s biggest traditions originated from the Irish tale of “stingy Jack”.
The popular story tells us Jack was a horrible man, often compared to the devil himself. When the devil came to take Jack’s soul, he soon understood the comparison.
Jack tricked the devil and forced him to promise that Jack’s soul would never go to hell.
When Jack passed away he had committed too many sins to enter heaven and was refused at the gates of hell due to the devils promise.
This left him in purgatory with only a lit coal, kept inside a turnip, to light his way.
People began to carve faces into turnips, leaving them outside their homes to scare Jack away.
We can see this Celtic tradition upheld through pumpkin carving today.
Image credit : Sophie Holmes
If you search for the hashtag “pumpkin” on Instagram, you will see over 19.6 million results.
The most popular posts on Instagram show aesthetically pleasing, perfect pumpkins. Social media has given us the ability to portray an idealistic version of our lives. Naturally, people strive to share their best photos capturing their best pumpkins.
During Halloween, there are millions of posts made, showing everyone’s Halloween Highlights. Aesthetic posting encourages people to discard non-perfect pumpkins, adding them to the 18,000 tonnes of annual pumpkin waste.
If seasonal vegetable carvings were still done to scare Jack, we wouldn’t be focused on how ‘Instagrammable’ pumpkins are. This is just one way that Halloween has strayed from its origin, becoming a more consumer-driven holiday.
Profitability
During Samhain, people would wear disguises created out of animal skins to confuse bad spirits and therefore protect themselves. In the 19th century, Irish migrants brought their cultural practices and traditions over to America. There, people soon began to follow the tradition of hand-making costumes to celebrate Halloween.
The popularisation of this tradition was seen as profitable, and American companies soon began mass-producing costumes. This made Halloween more accessible but it also took away the art of hand-making your costumes.
Costume hand-made by Eilidh MacInnes. Image credit : Sophie Holmes
Costume companies come out with new products each year. Creating outfits based on new trends and media personalities to entice people to shop new. In 2024, it was expected that, in America, almost 4 billion U.S. dollars would be spent on Halloween costumes alone.
The UK has followed suit on the trend of a plastic-wrapped and store-bought Halloween.
In the UK, around 7 million Halloween costumes are estimated to be disposed of each year. This significantly contributes to the 2000 tonnes of plastic waste created by the UK during Halloween.
Halloween today
Halloween has been commercialised, but there are still many sustainable and affordable ways to celebrate this season. If you are planning on pumpkin carving, you should consider making pumpkin treats or composting your waste. DIY-ing your costume and home decor can also be a lot more cost-effective and better for the environment.
There is nothing scarier than surrounding yourself with future landfill…
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