By D.W. Roach
When the autumn nights lengthen and the air grows sharp with the scent of woodsmoke, the veil between worlds feels thinner. Across the modern world, Halloween arrives — a night of masks, spirits, and flickering candles. But what did the Vikings make of such a night? Did they too feel the chill of unseen spirits and the turning of the year? While the Norse did not celebrate Halloween as we know it today, echoes of similar beliefs and festivals can still be heard in their sagas and seasonal rites.
No Pumpkins, But Plenty of Spirits
The Vikings didn’t have Halloween — at least not in name. The festival as we know it evolved much later from the Celtic Samhain and later All Hallows’ Eve. Yet, the Norse had their own understanding of the turning seasons and the thinning veil between the living and the dead.
In the North, this time of year was marked by Vetrnætr, or Winter Nights, a festival held in mid-October to mark the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. Offerings were made to the gods — especially Freyr, the god of fertility and prosperity — to ensure survival through the dark months ahead. But Vetrnætr wasn’t only about thanking the gods; it was also about honoring the ancestors, who were believed to walk among the living when the nights grew long.
Many Icelandic sagas, including Eyrbyggja Saga and Laxdæla Saga, make mention of spirits and the restless dead appearing in autumn and winter. The Norse believed the world of the dead, Helheim, wasn’t far removed — and certain times of year, that boundary could be crossed.
The Haunting of the Draugr
If there’s a Norse equivalent of the Halloween ghost, it’s the Draugr — an undead being who guards its burial mound, sometimes leaving it to torment the living. The sagas are filled with tales of these revenants: swollen, dark-skinned, and reeking of death. They represented both literal fear of the dead and metaphorical guilt — a reminder that the past never fully rests.
Halloween’s fascination with ghosts, monsters, and the supernatural fits eerily well with these Viking beliefs. The Vikings may not have carved pumpkins or donned costumes, but they told stories by the fire — stories of the dead, of restless spirits, and the gods who watched unseen from the darkness.
From Pagan Fires to Christian Candles
As Christianity spread through Scandinavia between the 10th and 12th centuries, Norse traditions slowly merged with Christian holy days. All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Day were adopted, transforming the old pagan festivals of the dead into church-sanctioned observances. The practice of lighting candles for the departed and holding feasts in their honor has clear parallels to earlier pagan rituals — proof that even conversion couldn’t extinguish the old ways entirely.
Halloween in the Modern North
Today, Halloween is celebrated across Scandinavia — though it arrived relatively late. In Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, trick-or-treating and costume parties have become increasingly popular since the 1990s, influenced by American pop culture. Yet even now, the celebration retains a uniquely Nordic flavor: dark forests, candlelit windows, and a quiet reverence for the unseen.
In some rural parts of Iceland and Norway, older customs still linger. Families visit ancestral graves, leaving candles or flowers to honor the departed — a direct echo of both Christian All Souls’ Day and pre-Christian ancestor veneration.
Echoes of the Old Ways
While the Vikings didn’t celebrate Halloween, they certainly understood what it meant to live close to death — to honor their dead, fear the dark, and find meaning in the turning of the seasons. When we light our jack-o’-lanterns and tell ghost stories on All Hallows’ Eve, we’re taking part in something far older than we know — something the Norse would have recognized in spirit, if not in form.
So, when the winds howl this autumn and the night feels just a bit too still, raise a horn of mead to those who came before — for the Vikings, too, knew that when winter’s shadow fell, the dead were never far away.
D.W. Roach is a historical fiction author exploring Norse myth, faith, and the enduring legends of the North.
D.W. Roach "Marauder" 