The History of Halloween

Halloween is considered one of the biggest holidays in our country, right behind Christmas. However, what created these strange traditions, like asking strangers for candy? Many of the answers come from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in) from the Celts in Ireland over 2,000 years ago. This was their celebration of the New Year, taking place on November 1st. It was a time when summer and the harvest, a time of joy and life, was ending and replaced by winter, a cold time associated with death. At this time, it was believed that the worlds between the living and the dead clashed, bringing the ghosts to earth, and priests were believed to have heightened abilities that allowed them to predict prophecies to comfort many during a scary time. Through the day of festivities, people lit sacred bonfires, sacrificing crops and animals to Celtic deities. They also wore costumes, normally made of animal heads and skins, to ward off ghosts and tried to tell each other's fortunes. During the eighth century, Pope Gregory III made November 1st All Saints Day, changing it from a holiday dedicated to Christian martyrs, made by Pope Boniface IV of the 7th century, to a holiday to incorporate saints as well. All Saint’s Day was called “All-hallows” and the night before, the traditional night for Samhain was called “All-Hallows Eve,” or “Halloween.”So what brought these traditions to America? It was a long process that soon became a center of American culture. Although in the beginning, Puritan beliefs weren’t very accepting of these new Celtic traditions, the flow of immigrants, created a new, American version of Halloween that also incorporated Native festivities. It started with public events, parties celebrating the harvest, sharing stories of the dead, telling fortunes, ghost stories, and by the 19th century, autumn festivals were common. The modern widespread practice of trick-or-treating started during the 19th century when people dressed up in costumes and went to houses to ask for money and food. Trick-or-treating was a way for all members of the community to participate in an inexpensive way and geared the holiday towards younger kids. Also during this time, the religious tones of this holiday were removed, as parents and community leaders wanted to take out grotesque and superstitious parts of the holiday. Although, also during this time, communities were moved to celebrate together, and made the holiday-oriented towards the community ad parties with games rather than witchcraft, the intentions of the older traditions.One of the biggest childhood memories many have is participating in the many different Halloween events. To us, Halloween was a time to dress up as our favorite characters and eat as much candy as we can. From blockbuster movies to a sense of community, the origins of Halloween have brought more to our society than many realize.