If you want to make the most of Madrid's autumn, we recommend some routes to thoroughly explore the capital available here. And if you'd like to learn more about Halloween's history, keep reading!
This season also brings an autumn-related celebration that's gained tremendous popularity in recent years. October 31st - Halloween night, though for some it remains All Saints' Eve. Many consider it just another American import flooding streets with witches, vampires and pumpkins, but digging deeper into tradition reveals Halloween isn't as American as we think.
Let's begin by noting "Halloween" derives from the English phrase "All Hallow's Eve", meaning the eve of all souls. Starting to sound familiar now, isn't it?
Halloween and All Saints' share the same roots
A celebration with Celtic origins connected to the afterlife and communing with the dead. October 31st marked the night when a portal to the spirit world opened according to Celtic beliefs. People made offerings to the dead with seasonal flowers and fruits. Autumn's characteristic fruits? Chestnuts and pumpkins.
Knowing Halloween and All Saints' share origins and pumpkins stem from Celtic death rituals, why does this celebration feel so American? The answer's simpler than you think: as a Celtic tradition, Halloween faded with Christianity's rise, though some communities kept the pagan death rites alive.
Being originally Celtic, Halloween naturally persisted in Ireland and England. This is where British colonists became instrumental in transporting the tradition to America. Among their traditions, they carried the Celtic "All Hallow's Eve".
America, where capitalism reaches its peak expression, transformed Halloween into a highly commercial, spectacular celebration. Houses decked with pumpkins, vampires, cobwebs, witches. Children trick-or-treating while society celebrates this pagan Celtic festival (often unaware of its origins).
In Madrid, Halloween sparks great interest in the mysteries and legends hidden in the city's streets and squares. Haunted palaces, ghosts wandering the city, bewitched kings, tormented souls crying for justice.
Want to know more? Read: 5 Halloween activities in Madrid
Let's use this space to discuss a traditional sweet from this celebration - All Saints' or Halloween - namely "huesos de santo" (saint's bones). These confections connect to King Charles II's obsession with collecting saints' relics.
Legend says this bewitched king couldn't father children. Charles II "the Hexed" consulted sorcerers who advised collecting saints' bones for protection against spells threatening his reign and heir's birth.
His obsession grew so extreme that he collected 6,000 relics - enough for forensic experts to reconstruct 35 corpses. "Saints'" bones of dubious authenticity - he somehow acquired eight hands supposedly belonging to Saint Teresa (anatomy suggests at least four were extras).
The madness reached such levels that Madrid's citizens suspected their king of eating the bones he collected, given his insatiable hoarding. Relics from across the world flooded Charles II's court.
Charles II died childless on October 31, 1700. Mocking the late king's macabre fixation, court bakers ingeniously created a related sweet. Since his death coincided with All Saints' Day and his compulsive bone-collecting, they devised a special marzipan and egg yolk confection called "saint's bones", ensuring Madrid would remember Charles II and his bizarre relic obsession every Halloween while enjoying this delicacy.
So Halloween isn't as foreign to our culture as it seems, and now we know the origin of "saint's bones" sweets and their connection to Charles II's saintly relics.
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