Tonight is Halloween, which got me thinking about it in terms of negotiation and dispute resolution. As I read its history, it struck me that its origin is actually an example of preemptive distributive bargaining. As explained on the History. Com website:

   Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago mostly in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.

This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter—a time of year that was often associated with human death. The Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to predict the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires where people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically made of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes.

When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter. …(Origins)

On Halloween, the Celts believed that the worlds of the living and the dead blurred, and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth to possibly cause trouble. So, the Druids built huge sacred bonfires and sacrificed crops and animals to appease the deities, hoping that the deities would be pleased and allow the Celts to have a good winter rather than one full of disaster.

This sounds like conflict management and a lot of preemptive distributive bargaining to me! The Celts appeased the gods ahead of winter so the gods would not punish them in the coming long, cold, dark winter!

If you think about it, “trick or treating” is a form of distributive bargaining as well. Someone rings  your doorbell and says, “Trick or treat,” meaning, ”give me a treat, or I will play a trick on you!” In today’s world, I doubt a 5-year-old would play a trick if the homeowner denied her a treat … but one never knows! The accompanying parent may seek revenge!

Anyway… Happy Halloween! And best of luck in your endeavor to successfully bargain with all those “trick or treaters.”

… Just something to think about!

 

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