The History of Halloween

The spooky season has arrived, as we put out our pumpkins and dress in our most creative costumes. You may be wondering one of the creepiest mysteries of all, what began the festivity we celebrate every year on October 31?

It all started as the ancient festival of Samhain, which was celebrated by the Celts over 2,000 years ago. It started in the area we now call Ireland, United Kingdom and Northern France. The Calts believed on the night of October 31st, the line between life and death was thin, allowing all spirits to return to the living side. To keep away the evil spirits, villagers lit large bonfires and wore fearful costumes,sometimes made from animal skin.

This festival was a pagan religious celebration made to welcome the summer harvesting.
In the eighth century, Pope Gregory declared November 1 as a day to honor saints, also known as ‘All Saints’ Day’. Later , all Saints’ Day merged with some of the traditions of Samhein. The night before all Saints’ Day was known as Hallows Eve, which soon became known as Halloween.

Here are some of the classic Halloween traditions as we know them today;

Carving Jack’o Lanterns

The tradition of carving pumpkins is based on a legend of a man named Stingy Jack. It was said that he trapped the devil and let him go only on the condition that he doesn't go to hell. But when he died, heaven did not wish for his soul either. This led him to be forced to be a wanderer of earth for eternity. He was given a lump of coal inside a carved out turnip to light his way by the devil. This started the tradition of carving scary faces in turnips to scare away evil spirits.

Wearing Scary Costumes

The Celts believed that the evil spirits who linger during the night of Hallows Eve had come to terrorize them.This belief led to the fear of locals and the idea of wearing disguises to be left alone by the evil spirits of halloween. This tradition soon became the costumes we now wear for fun–or candy.

Trick or Treating

There are many beliefs about the origins of trick or treating. One of the theories suggests that during Samhein, Celtic people would leave out food to praise the spirits traveling the earth during nighttime. In time, people had merged the idea of wearing scary costumes to become a part of the spirit party to get drinks and foods from front doors, which in our case is now candy.

Another theory of this mysterious night speculates that modern American trick or treating was borrowed from the German-American Christmas tradition called “belsnickeling,” where children would dress in costumes and ask neighbors to guess their disguise. In a version of the theory, children were rewarded with foods such as candy if their costumes were guessed incorrectly.

So the next time you go out for Halloween to trick or treat or party, make sure to let your friends and neighbors know about the spooky seasons, even spookier backgrounds!