Like ghouls and ghosts, bats have been part of Halloween for as long as any of us can remember.
10.17.24
By Paul Hormick
Images of bats are everywhere during Halloween, plastered on schools, homes, libraries, and more. Like ghouls and ghosts, bats have been part of Halloween for as long as any of us can remember. Indeed, bats were a part of this “spooky” time of year even before there was a Halloween, back when people feared the gods, believed in ghosts, and looked to the night sky for bats.
To find the throughline between bats and Halloween, a delve into some historical context is needed. Two thousand years before the Roman Empire, Celts inhabited much of Europe, from the British Isles to the Black Sea. In fall, these polytheistic tribes celebrated Samhain, an end of year harvest festival. Samhain was a spiritually topsy turvy time, when mortals could come in contact with the realm of the gods, but also a time when the gods played tricks on those mortals.
As this was a fearful time of supernatural danger, the Celts wore costumes to ward off ghosts during Samhain (sound familiar?). They also lit evening bonfires. The flames attracted moths and other insects, and the insects attracted bats. Though much is conjectured as to what the Celts believed about bats, they naturally began to associate these curious, flying creatures with their harvest festival. Spotting bats in the night skies became as much a part of Samhain as the ghouls and ghosts that frightened these ancient people.
The Roman Empire, Christianity, and Halloween
Many Celtic lands fell under Roman rule as Rome advanced its empire. Yet folks of Celtic heritage continued to celebrate Samhain, costumes, bonfires, bats, and all.
Recognizing that dressing up and having bonfires was too much fun to give up, the Church endeavored to transform Samhain into something Christian rather than trying to suppress it. In the fifth century, Pope Boniface I moved the Samhain celebration to May 13, although, folks still celebrated Samhain in the fall, maintaining their pagan practices.
And that was how things stood until the ninth century, a Christian holyday in the spring and a pagan celebration in the fall. In a final effort to morph Samhain into a Christian holyday, Pope Gregory IV moved the day honoring saints and martyrs to autumn, designating November first as All Saints’ Day and the following day as All Souls’ Day. The harvest festival continued to be celebrated on October 31st, but as the Celtic beliefs waned, the Church imbued Christian legends and fables to the pagan practices of costuming and other Samhain traditions. Over time, the day became known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween.
Though much is conjectured as to what the Celts believed about bats, they naturally began to associate these curious, flying creatures with their harvest festival.
How Halloween Jumped Continents
Hundreds of years later, a fall celebration resembling Halloween continued in Britain. In 1606, Parliament set aside November 6th as a day to commemorate the foiling of Guy Fawkes, a Catholic revolutionary who attempted to blow up the Protestant House of Lords. Among the customs of the holiday is the lighting of great bonfires, as with Samhain and Halloween.
Guy Fawkes celebrations hopped across the Atlantic and continued for generations in the United States, but starting in the 1800s, this sectarian tradition was supplanted as huge waves of Catholic Irish immigrants, who still celebrated Halloween, set foot on the shores of the U.S. And as Americans of all stripes love to have a good time, the rest of the nation joined in the Halloween fun.
Bonfires are still part of Halloween. Maybe because there are fewer bats today than during Celtic times bat spotting is not a fixture of Halloween today. But bat imagery remains with us for this holiday, which is pretty amazing, considering that the association goes back thousands of years.
Along the way, the rest of the world has joined in inadvertently celebrating bats during Halloween too. Wherever revelers celebrate Halloween, from Japan and Korea to South America and India, bat symbolism is now ubiquitous. And while the Mexican Day of the Dead (or Dia de Muertos) does not have any traditional association with bats, the ancient Aztec holiday has become Americanized and is recognized at almost the same time as Halloween. And bats are increasingly becoming part of the iconography of this darkly festive day as well.
So, no matter where you may be the world over, as you dress up your children (or yourself) in bat-themed costumes or decorate your home with bat imagery this Halloween, remember that long ago, during dark, autumn nights, our beloved and vital bats unwittingly ensured their status as icons of Halloween as they swarmed the blazes of the ancient Celts.
