These days Halloween is a day when people dress up in costumes to grab people’s attention and go around getting candy from strangers. But that isn’t what Halloween always was. The origin of the holiday traces all the way back to around 2,000 years ago among the Celtic population in Europe.
Each year the Celtics in Europe would end the summer in a festival of Samhain which is a pagan religious celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of summer. These celebrations would consist of things very similar to the holiday now. The Celtics would dress up in costumes to ward off ghosts and they would light bonfires and share sweet treats.
According to librarian from the New York Public Library, Amanda Pagan the bonfires were because, “ the veil separating the worlds of the living and the dead was at its thinnest.”
During the tenth century, the holiday was Christianized and called All Saint’s Day which took place on November first. Throughout the century the Christianized version of the holiday made its way to the Celtic lands where it blended with their version of the holiday. Throughout this time the holiday made its way through many different names from All Saint’s Day to All Hallows Eve and eventually to Halloween.
It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that the traditions of Halloween today started emerging. Trick or Treating. The staple of every Halloween night.
According to the official History Channel website, Trick-or-Treating was between poor and rich people,” poor people would visit the houses of wealthier houses and receive pastries in exchange for a promise to pray for the souls of the homeowner’s dead relatives.”
The process was known as “Souling” and was later taken up by children who would go from door to door asking for gifts.
Another tradition of today’s Halloween is Jack-o-Lanterns. This tradition first appeared in the 19th century in Ireland and Scotland. The tradition originated from a myth about an Irish man nicknamed “Stingy Jack” who tricked the Devil and was forced to roam around with only burning coal in a turnip to light his way.
People decided to make their own take on the story by carving scary faces into turnips and potatoes and placing them in windows to scare away Stingy Jack and other wandering spirits. While this might be why people put out Jack-o-Lanterns today the story is still there for those who wish to know it.
The final part that people today associate with Halloween is the costumes; however, this is something that didn’t become mainstream until the 1950s. Costumes have always been part of the holiday but it didn’t become like how it is now until much later. In the 1950s kids started to dress up not scary but as their favorite characters. It was during this time that costumes became mass produced and affordable for everyone.
Halloween is loved by many people, one of them is Junior Lily Jones who said,” Halloween is my favorite holiday and it’s so fun to celebrate every year.”
Halloween is one of the oldest holidays with so much rich history. This Halloween when putting on a costume or going Trick-or-Treating, think about the history of the holiday. Think of all those who came before the world today. From warding off spirits to getting free candy, this holiday of so much history is something to celebrate every October 31st.
