Halloween ‘25, commemorating Victorian tradition
At Arcanium, we use our art to share stories lost in time. We bring the art of story telling with the accuracy of what has been shared in the past from elders, carrying over lore and allowing traditions to be known and remembered.
Stained Glass Corset
In Gothic architecture, stained glass wasn’t just decoration — it was theology in colour. Medieval writers described it as a veil:
The stone walls were “flesh,” heavy and mortal.
The stained glass windows were the “skin of light,” filtering the divine so mortals could glimpse it without being blinded.
Halloween / Samhain leans on the exact same motif: a veil thins between two realms (living ↔ dead). Stained glass = literal, physical veil of light; Halloween = temporal veil of souls. The resonance is right there.
Medieval / Gothic Sources
Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis (1140s): Credited with inventing Gothic stained glass. He wrote that stained glass was meant to *“brighten the minds so that they may travel through the true lights, to the True Light.”* Basically, glass was a portal to the divine.
Suger described glass as The medium through which the dull mind rises to truth.”/ That’s almost occult in vibe — the glass changes your perception, like a veil between life and death.
Spirits & Protection
Folklore in Europe: **ghosts and demons can’t cross glass.** It’s why mirrors and windows became spiritual symbols. A corset made of “glass” → armour against restless spirits on All Hallows’ Eve.
In some traditions, coloured glass was thought to *confuse or repel* evil, because spirits couldn’t navigate fractured light.
Gothic Mourning Pendant
The idea of wearing memorial objects (memento mori) goes way back — people in earlier eras used rings, lockets, relics to remember the dead. Mourning rings in particular date to at least the 14th century.
In the Victorian era, grief was worn. Locks of hair, ashes, sometimes even blood were preserved in pendants and rings. We’re reviving the practice — not with the remains of loved ones, but with symbolic reliquaries.
Materials & style:
Black materials: jet (fossilized wood), onyx, black enamel, vulcanite. These were preferred to reflect grief and solemnity.
Hair insertion: strands of the deceased’s hair were often woven or encased into brooches, lockets, rings. This was perhaps the most intimate memorial method.
Symbolic motifs: urns, obelisks, angels, weeping willows, clasped hands, black mourning silhouettes.
