Hallowe’en is a 6,000 year old Sabbat that originated from the Celtic people’s fire festival, Samhain (sow-en). This holiday is still practiced today by the Pagan community in the same ways the Celts celebrated. It’s a time for divination and remembrance, feasts and family. Hallowe’en, much like many others, has become very much commercialized and the people of the Pagan practices have been somewhat forgotten along the way. When perusing the Hallowe’en aisle of any store as of late, it’s all zombies, gore, blood and horror, all things the original holiday of Hallowe’en is not about. The city of Bangor appears to have succumb to the ever-present spooky vibe of Hallowe’en and celebrates with events such as their infamous Zombie Walk. It would be beneficial to the local public, and definitely to preserve the sanctity of the local Pagan community’s beliefs, to work towards adding some more family-oriented celebrations around Bangor. Hallowe’en, after all, is the Witch’s New Year.

Although Pagans may not be as outspoken as some other religions (it being in their beliefs to be fairly private with their ways) they have a very strong community here in the Bangor area. They hold seasonal ceremonies to celebrate the coming of each Sabbat and Esbat, usually somewhere close to nature but sometimes at the local Unitarian Universalist Church. Every weekend you can check the paper and see local religious gatherings but the Pagan communities events are never mentioned in the religion section of the Bangor Daily News. The Pagan community has been overlooked when it comes to talking about local faiths. For example, The Bangor Library recently held a series of talks about “The Faiths in our Community” and they mentioned quite a few sects of Christianity as well as the Muslim and Jewish ways but nothing about the local Pagans. It seems it may be time for the Pagan community to step out and show they are not the scary, mysterious creatures they are sometimes portrayed as.

Pagans in the Bangor area could come together and work with the city during the harvest time of year and host a fire festival including: activities, booths, games and harvest-related foods to educate the public on some of the “old ways” as well as unite Bangor for some seasonal fun. Hallowe’en festivals typically start at sundown (hence its alternate name, Hallow Ev’en) and involve large feasts, divinations (ways of “predicting” the future and contacting the deceased), and of course, jack-o-lanterns (which are put out to ward off negative spirits). These festivals could be open to the public and in no way mandatory, just a fun option for families with children who would like a cleaner option than some of the spookier activities going on this time of year. Plus, they would have the added benefit of being able to learn a little history while everyone has some fun!

A lot of Hallowe’en traditions still observed today come from the practices of the Celts in 350 B.C.E. For example, bobbing for apples originated from water divinations. It was said that a group of unmarried girls and boys would mark apples and stick them in a bucket of water with unmarked apples. They would then proceed to “bob” and bite one apple and whoever picked a marked apple was destined to marry its owner and whoever chose an unmarked apple was destined to remain unwed. Although people may not practice this particular activity the same way today, it would be fun to introduce the true meaning of some of these activities again. Another form of divination suggests peeling an apple from top to bottom in a continuous strand and letting it drop into a tub of water. When the peel hits the water it’s said to form the first letter of the first name of your true love. This could be interesting in a fair setting to attract people to a different form of fortune teller booth with a fun twist.

Although the old ways may have involved up dressing up in costume it wasn’t exactly the trick-or-treating it is today. It’s believed that the former practitioners of Hallowe’en may have dressed up to ward off evil spirits, saying that if one was dressed up in a disguise the negative spirits that had passed through the veil would pass them by assuming they were one of their own. The treat part of the equation was one that originated from the Celts tradition of leaving food out as offerings for the dead to invite them into their home. The Celts believed the dead would visit while they could pass back to this side and leaving cakes or breads such as “All Souls Bread” would let them know they were welcome to visit the house in which they stop by. All Souls Bread could be one of many interesting food items to introduce during the Hallowe’en festivals here in Bangor.

Hallowe’en is about being one with our ancestors and each other and coming together to create common bonds while we celebrate this amazing change of seasons. Creating more events for the public that have roots settled more in education and fun for everyone, would help achieve the goal of teaching about the old times as well as give everyone time to learn about a different, group of people. There could be events such as the festivals, fairs and even neighborhood block parties. These events could increase the town’s overall revenue via festival admission fees and cost and profit of fair booths. These Hallowe’en festivals/fairs would provide a safe and nurturing environment for families and children to have fun without worry of some of the uglier images presented this time of year. Using a space such as the waterfront (which is already set up from the summer Waterfront Concerts) could be a good location to gather the community for such fairs and festivals. Especially considering the American Folk Festival has done so well being set up in this location for years.

On an even smaller scale neighborhoods could easily have potluck block parties in local parks with guidelines, such as, family-friendly costumes and harvest-themed décor and food. The use of some fairly easy technology (Facebook, etc.) could help in certain ways with spreading the news via internet about the local festivities and save on costs for some of the advertising of these new events. Improving communications between the Pagan community and the City of Bangor could help calm some of the hype related to the Pagan people as well as give a fun atmosphere for new events in this ever-growing city. Additional advertising for festivals, fairs and neighborhood block parties via word of mouth, strategically placed posters around town and possibly even in local businesses could help bring even more awareness to these events while bringing a more neighborly vibe to the people of Bangor. These local Hallowe’en festivities could be just what Bangor needs to bring the people together and become a cohesive community again.