The Truth About Halloween and Tudor England

by Nancy Bilyeau

I have a passion for 16th century England. My friends and family, not to mention my agent and editors, are accustomed to my obsession with the Tudorverse. Namely, that for me, all roads lead back to the family that ruled England from 1485 to 1603. Could it be possible that Halloween, one of my favorite days of the year, is also linked to the Tudors?

Yes, it turns out, it could.

The first recorded use of the word "Halloween" was in mid-16th century England. It is a shortened version of "All-Hallows-Even" ("evening"), the night before All Hallows Day, another name for the Christian feast that honors saints on the first of November.

But it's not just a literal connection. To me, there's a certain spirit of Halloween that harkens back to the Tudor era as well. Not the jack o' lanterns, apple-bobs and haunted houses (and not the wonderful Christopher Lee "Dracula" movies that I watch on TCM network every October, two in a row if I can). It's that mood, frightening and mysterious and exciting too, of ghosts flitting through the trees; of charms that just might bring you your heart's desire; of a distant bonfire spotted in the forest; of a crone's chilling prophecy.

The Oxford Astrologer

In pre-Reformation England, the Catholic Church co-existed with belief in astrology and magic. It was quite common to attend Mass regularly and to consult astrologers. "The medieval church appeared as a vast reservoir of magical power," writes Keith Thomas in his brilliant 1971 book Religion and the Decline of Magic. Faithful Catholics tolerated the traditions of the centuries-old Celtic festival of Samhain ("summer's end"), when people lit bonfires and put on costumes to scare away the spirits of the unfriendly dead. In fact, an Eighth Century pope named November 1st as the day to honor all Catholic saints and martyrs with an eye toward Samhain.

Soul cakes

Nothing shows the merger of Celtic and Christian beliefs better than "soul cakes." These small, round cakes, filled with nutmeg or cinnamon or currants, were made for All Saints’ Day on November 1st. The cakes were offered as a way to say prayers for the departed (you can picture the village priest nodding in approval) but they were also given away to protect people on the day of the year that the wall was thinnest between the living and the dead, a Celtic if not Druid belief. I am fascinated by soul cakes, and I worked them into my first novel, The Crown, a thriller set in 1537-1538 England. Soul cakes even end up being a clue!

In the early 16th century, Halloween on October 31st, All Saints’ Day (or All Hallows Day) on November 1st and All Souls’ Day on November 2nd were a complex grouping of traditions and observances. Life revolved around the regular worship, the holidays and the feast days that constituted the liturgy. As the great Eamon Duffy wrote: "For within that great seasonal cycle of fast and festival, of ritual observance and symbolic gesture, lay Christians found the paradigms and the stories which shaped their perception of the world and their place in it."

Sculptures smashed at Worcester Cathedral.

Henry VIII changed the perceptions of the kingdom forever when he broke from Rome. A guiding force in his reformation of the Catholic Church was the destruction of what he and his chief minister Thomas Cromwell scorned as "superstition." Saints' statues were removed; murals telling mystical stories were painted over; shrines were pillaged; the number of feast days was sharply reduced so that more work could be done during the growing season. "The Protestant reformers rejected the magical powers and supernatural sanctions which had been so plentifully invoked by the medieval church," writes Keith Thomas. The story in The Crown is told from the perspective of a young Catholic novice who struggles to cope with these radical changes.



My children love Halloween as much as I do. Yet somehow Halloween, the day before All Saints’ Day, survived the government's anti-superstition movement, to grow and survive long after the Tudors were followed by the Stuarts. It’s now a secular holiday that children adore (including mine, who are trying on costumes four days early). 

As for me, I relish the candy handouts, costumes and scary movies—and I also cherish our society’s stubborn fondness for bonfires and charms and ghosts and sweet cakes, for in them can be found echoes of life in the age of the Tudors.

This is an Editor's Choice and was originally published on October 27, 2011.

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Nancy Bilyeau is a historical novelist and magazine editor based in New York. She wrote the Joanna Stafford trilogy, a trio of thrillers set in Henry VIII’s England, for Simon & Schuster. Her fourth novel is The Blue, an 18th century thriller revolving around the art & porcelain world. Her latest novel is Dreamland, set in Coney Island of 1911, is published by Endeavour Quill. A former staff editor at Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and InStyle, Nancy is currently the deputy editor at the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College and contributes to Town & Country, CrimeReads, and Mystery Scene magazine.

For more information, visit www.nancybilyeau.com.

The Celtic Feast of Samhain and Hallow'een

by Arthur Russell

Aerial view of the earthworks on Tlachtga's Hill

Celebrating Samhain 

The Hill of Ward near Athboy in Co Meath is regarded as the site where the traditional celebration of Samhain was centred in pre-Christian Ireland. The ancient Celtic name for the Hill is Tlachtga (from the old Gaelic words meaning “Earth Spear”). This derives from the name of the Celtic goddess of Fertility. An associated legend about her tells that Tlachtga (pronounced Clackda) was a Witch and the daughter of the powerful wizard and chief Druid, Mug Ruith.

Note – Older legends of Mug Ruith suggest he was a Sun God.

The legend speaks of Tlachtga and Mug Ruith journeying to Italy to put themselves under the tuition of a powerful wizard called Simon Magnus. In course of this, the three constructed a flying wheel called the Roth Rámach, which they used to sail through the air to demonstrate their powers. Mug Ruith and Tlachtga returned to Ireland and brought the flying wheel with them. The legend also relates that the wizard’s three sons raped Tlachtga and fathered triplet sons on her. She died after giving birth and the earthworks that can still be seen on the summit of the Hill of Ward (Tlachtga) were raised over her grave and the annual Samhain festival inaugurated to her honor.

Whatever the Festival’s origin, the Hill of Ward, then known as Tlachtga, was established as a center of Celtic religious worship over 2,000 years ago focusing on the celebration of the feast of Samhain. From the beginning it was overshadowed by the more famous and prestigious neighboring site at the Royal seat on the Hill of Tara less than 10 kms to the east, but it remained for centuries the center of the annual Great Fire Festival of Samhain that signaled the onset of winter. 

The rituals and ceremonies carried out here by the pre-Christian Irish offered assurance to the people that the powers of darkness, which had by that time of year become strongly established over the land would be overcome, and the powers of light and life would eventually prevail. Animal bones were cast into the fires of Samhain, which added a special spiritual significance to the ceremonial flames. The fire was called 'tine chnámh' (pronounced tina kin-awve) or bone fire, from which the English word ‘bonfire’ is derived. The Celts believed that Oiche Samhain (the Night of Samhain) marks a time of year when the veil between the world of the Living and the world of the Dead melts away for a short while. During those hours the souls of all who had died since the last Samhain moved into the next life and there was relatively free movement of the dead as they made return visits to their former lives. The Celtic Druids considered the Hill of Tlachtga to be a place where the veil between living and dead was at its thinnest on that night.

The pre-historic landscape of the Boyne Valley. 

Map of the Boyne Valley area showing pre-historic sites

The ceremonial Hill is located midway between the Royal site on the Hill of Tara and the Neolithic burial sites of Loughcrew to the North-west; both of which have their own burial structures which are aligned to the seasonal position of the Sun as it goes through its annual cycle around the sky.

Mound of the Hostages at Tara

Note - The Mound of the Hostages on the crest of the Hill of Tara is actually aligned to the rising sun on November 1st. Tlaghtga is located at the edge of the Boyne Valley, an area which is already rich in pre-historic sites. These include – Tara, the ancient site for the Irish Árd Ríthe (High Kings), Brú na Bóinne encompassing Newgrange (associated with the Winter Solstice), and the structures of Knowth and Dowth, Tailteann – which is associated with Loughcrew – which has a complex of passage tombs aligned to the equinox sunrises in March and September. 

Samhain Rituals

The Celtic feast of Samhain (Samhain is the Gaelic word for November) marks the beginning of Winter. The tradition was to extinguish all fires across the countryside before sunset on the eve of the feast. After darkness fell, the druids who had gathered on top of the Hill called Tachtla lit the first fire. The fire from this was transported by chariot to both Tara and Loughcrew as well as to five other designated sites throughout the land to relight fires there. From these fires all other fires in the land would be relit. The night sky would be illuminated by the spreading Samhain fires as they worked their way through the countryside. After Christianity arrived, the old pagan festival of Samhain were transformed into a celebration of All Souls or All Hallows to honour their dead who had passed to a better world. The notion that it was possible to more easily communicate with the dead during the darkening days as winter approached seemed to persist. From this came the name Hallow'eve (the eve of All Souls day) or Hallowe'en. Many of the associated traditional practices and games were kept and developed over succeeding centuries to what we know today.

Note – Among the many Hallowe'en traditions that developed over the centuries in Celtic countries such as Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man was the making of Hallowe'en lanterns using the humble turnip grown on many farms. Selected turnips were chosen and had the central pulp removed; holes were cut in the shell of the bulb to represent eyes, nose and mouth and a lighted candle placed inside to be placed on gateposts and on windows on the night of Hallowe'en. Emigrants to the New World during the 18th and 19th century brought the lantern making tradition with them but adapted the much bigger and softer pumpkin as Hallowe'en ware. It is interesting to note that the tradition of using pumpkins (not turnips) as Hallowe'en lanterns has during the last century effectively come from the New World to replace the turnip as the favoured vegetable for the Hallowe'en lantern.

It is also interesting to note that the Pilgrim Fathers were not in favour of celebrating Hallowe'en at all, so it awaited the arrival of later waves of immigrants from Europe, especially Ireland and Scotland, to establish the celebration of Hallowe'en in the New World.

The Samhain Festival revived at Tlachtga’s Hill: 

In recent years, the Samhain celebration has been revived at the Hill which is regarded as the centre for Samhain celebrations. It is expected that on the evening of each October 31st over 1000 people from many countries will gather in the Fairgreen of Athboy to observe the ancient ritual of Samhain on the ancient site. Tlachtga’s Hill is close to the town of Athboy in Co Meath, where on the evening of October 31st townspeople and anyone who cares to join them will assemble in the centre of the town, some wearing druid costumes and carrying lanterns, to walk the short distance to the hill outside the town. There they will light the traditional Samhain bonfire. In doing this, they will repeat and recall the actions of their ancestors of centuries before as they mark the passing of another year and the beginning of the coming winter.

 As always, the emphasis will not be just to look back but also to look forward. The dead will duly remembered and honoured, as they should be.

 The living, those who have lived through the year that is winding down to its annual sleep and who are alive to see this night, will be reminded by the fire that the dark winter days of November and December will pass. Light and life will return once more, all in due time, for everything under the Heavens has its season.

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Arthur Russell is the Author of Morgallion, a novel set in medieval Ireland during the Invasion of Ireland in 1314 by the Scottish army led by Edward deBruce, the last crowned King of Ireland. It tells the story of Cormac MacLochlainn, a young man from the Gaelic crannóg community of Moynagh and how he and his family endured and survived that turbulent period of history. Morgallion has been recently awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion and is available in paperback and e-book form.

More information available on website - www.morgallion.com

The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall

By Catherine Curzon

It was quite by accident that I scheduled myself for the Halloween slot here on the blog but, given my love of all things ghostly, most fortuitous too. With one eye on the date and one on my beloved glorious Georgians, there could really only be one topic for me today and that is the sad fate of Dorothy Townshend, aka the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall.

The unfortunate Dorothy Townshend (pictured below) was born Dorothy Walpole on 18th September 1686 at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. As a daughter of Robert Walpole and Mary Burwell, she was the sister of the legendary Sir Robert Walpole, now widely considered to be the first man to hold the office of Prime Minister of Great Britain. For Dorothy, though, life was not destined to be quite so illustrious as that particular sibling. 

In her youth Dorothy took something of a fancy to Charles, 2nd Viscount Townshend (pictured bottom left), who had been left under Walpole's guardianship by his father. Though the young couple were devoted to one another Walpole forbade the marriage, preferring that Townshend make his own way in the world, sure that there would be allegations of nepotism, undue influence and possibly worse should he permit the union.

Townshend and Dorothy gave up on their dreams of marriage and the Viscount married another, leaving the woman who adored him utterly alone. Of course, no intelligent, beautiful, rich young woman is left alone for long and soon Dorothy fell under the influence of Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton and later founder of the notorious Hellfire Club. Dorothy's affair with Wharton was passionate and heated and though it was over quickly, it was to cast a long shadow even after Wharton fled his creditors and Dorothy was left, once again, alone.

For once though, Cupid seemed to be smiling on the young lady and Townshend, now widowed, returned to claim her hand. The couple were finally married and together had seven children which should be the happy conclusion to this tale but of course, that wouldn't be much of a story for Halloween.

Instead, things eventually began to go downhill in the Townshend household at Raynham Hall and inevitably, word of the earlier affair eventually reached the Viscount's ears. He was furious at his wife's youthful indiscretion and ordered that she be locked up in her rooms, never to know freedom again. Here Dorothy remained for more than a year until her sad incarceration was ended by a dose of smallpox aged just forty. The official explanation struck some commentators as a little too convenient and there was gossip that the unhappy woman, despairing at what her life had become, had thrown herself down the stairs at Raynham Hall or, worse still, had been cast down them by her enraged husband, though suspicions were to remain unfounded.

Dorothy's story doesn't end there though and it seems that, according to some, her incarceration at Raynham Hall continues to this day. Many guests at the house have made reports of a ghostly apparition and our very own Prinny, better known as the future George IV, stayed at the house during the Regency and left in quite a hurry after being surprised by "a little lady all dressed in brown, with dishevelled hair and a face of ashy paleness" who stood beside his bed. Some of those who encountered the vision remarked upon its similarity to portraits of Dorothy Townshend and so the legend grew, helped in no small part by a now famous photograph taken in 1936 by Captain Hubert C. Provand. The photograph  purports to show the spirit who has become known as the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall.

Is the Brown Lady really the unfortunate Lady Townshend? Indeed, is the Brown Lady really anything at all beyond a legend? We cannot know for sure but as Halloween celebrations start across the country, let us spare a thought for the tragic fate of Dorothy Townshend, wherever she now walks.

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Glorious Georgian ginbag, gossip and gadabout Catherine Curzon, aka Madame Gilflurt, is the author of A Covent Garden Gilflurt’s Guide to Life. When not setting quill to paper, she can usually be found gadding about the tea shops and gaming rooms of the capital or hosting intimate gatherings at her tottering abode. In addition to her blog and Facebook, Madame G is also quite the charmer on Twitter. Her first book, Life in the Georgian Court, is available now, and she is also working on An Evening with Jane Austen, starring Adrian Lukis and Caroline Langrishe.

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All Hallows and All Souls


By Lauren Gilbert


From The Book of Hallowe'en 1919




At this time of year, around the world, people celebrate in remembrance for the dead: specifically deceased saints and deceased loved ones. Tonight, we will be celebrating Halloween. In the United States, and many other western nations, this has become a secular holiday, full of games, sweet treats, costumes and fun. However, it is still celebrated as a religious tradition and has deep historical roots.

In the CONCISE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, “Hallow” is defined as follows: verb-to make holy or consecrate; noun-archaic word for a saint or holy person. Pope Gregory IV extended a holiday to the whole Catholic Church in 835 AD to honor all of the saints, known and unknown, which was called All Saints Day, on November 1. This was and is a holy day of obligation in the Catholic church, and attendance at mass was required. This day was also known as All Hallows Day. As with many Christian holidays, it absorbed an earlier, non-Christian holiday, the ancient Celtic holiday, Samhain, which fell at roughly the same time.

As with other Catholic days of obligation, the evening before is the start of the celebration, or vigil. Therefore, the evening of October 31 became All Hallows Eve, or All Hallows Even. This is the root of Hallowe’en (now Halloween), the first known usage of which occurred about 1700. Samhain was an ancient Celtic and Gaelic holiday celebrated on the night before their New Year, which roughly coincides with October 31. On this night, the division between the living and the dead becomes blurred. Celtic customs included bonfires (and sacrifices) and wearing costumes to ward off spirits.

In 1000 AD, the feast of All Souls was established on November 2 by the Catholic Church. On this day, the office of the dead was read, and all of the faithful who had died and were in purgatory were remembered. During the service, survivors could have the names of their deceased loved ones read upon request. It was thought that the spirits of the dead returned to visit their homes, and candles were lit to guide them. Before the Reformation, poor Christians would beg for money or food, offering prayers for the dead in exchange. In England, by the 19th century, this morphed into a tradition called “souling” where children would sing a specific song for money or soul cakes.

You can see the words of the song and a modern recipe for the cakes HERE. http://projectbritain.com/year/november.htm

The modern celebration of Halloween as a secular holiday has embraced the costumes, the bonfires and candles, and the requests for “treats” from the pagan and early Christian traditions, while losing (or ignoring) the religious solemnity.

All Saints Day and All Souls Day are both still celebrated today, not only by the Catholic Church, but by other Christian denominations including the Church of England. The Book of Common Prayer contains this collect for All Saints Day: God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

On All Souls Day, the Church of England celebrates the Eucharist of the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. While it is fun to celebrate Halloween as a secular event, it is important to remember the history and roots of the celebration.

CONCISE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY.11th edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford NY © 2008, Pg. 644

ABOUT.COM/Catholicism. Richert, Scott P. All Souls Day. http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/All_Souls_Day.htm

Catholic Encyclopedia online New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01315a.htm (All Saints Day)

Catholic Encyclopedia online-New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01315b.htm (All Souls Day)

Church of England website. The Book of Common Prayer. http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/book-of-common-prayer/collects-epistles-and-gospels/all-saints'-day.aspx

Project Britain Website; Project Britain Folklore Calendar. Facts about November. http://projectbritain.com/year/november.htm

History.com (The History Channel online).Origins of Halloween. http://www.history.com/topics/halloween

Image from Wikimedia. org http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Book_of_Hallowe%27en.jpg

Merriam-Webster online. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/halloween

The Telegraph Online. Chivers, Tom. Hallowe'en: a history of All Hallows' Eve, from Samhain to trick-or-treat. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6468637/Halloween-a-history-of-All-Hallows-Eve-from-Samhain-to-trick-or-treat.html

The Telegraph Online. Ross, Tim. Churches attempt to take the ‘dark side’ out of Hallowe’en. 10/31/09 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8097043/Churches-attempt-to-take-the-dark-si

Lauren Gilbert lives in Florida, and is the author of HEYERWOOD: A Novel.  You can find out more about the novel at http://www.heyerwood.com