The History of Halloween

Halloween is the most fascinatingly weird holiday there is. It has a rich, varied, and somewhat elusive history with candy consumption, dressing-up, mischief-making, and dark side dabbling.

Here are some facts about the origin of Halloween:

Originated from an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain where they celebrate the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. During this time ancient pagans took stock of supplies and started to prepare for winter.

Ancient British and Irish Celts observe the start of the new year on November 1, All Souls Day, marking the end of summer and harvest time. People believed that on October 31, the worlds of the living and dead overlapped before the new year started.

October 31 became All Hallows Eve; where ghosts of the dead could return and destroy the harvest they would stock for winter. People would set bonfires on hilltops and wear masks warding off any evil spirits. Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows’ Evening also known as Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve.

Trick-or-Treating

Trick-or-treating is not a new thing it became part of Halloween history thanks to the Celtic traditions. On All Hallows Eve, poor children would go door-to-door asking for food and in exchange, promise to pray for the giver’s dead relatives on All Saints Day. This was known as “going-a-souling traditionally practised only in Britain and Ireland.

In America, trick-or-treating started with children trading songs for treats in the 1910s. Trick-or-treating stopped during World War II as there was a shortage of sugar. There wasn’t any extra candy available for costumed children to collect.

Jack-o’-Lanterns

The tradition began when people believed that carving scary faces onto turnips would frighten away evil spirits. It later turned to pumpkins because in America pumpkins were more plentiful and much easier to carve.

According to Irish folklore, a shrewd farmer named Jack used a cross to trap the Devil. Jack tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree and then carved a cross into the bark so that the Devil couldn’t get down. In exchange for letting Satan climb down, Jack had him vow to never claim his soul when he dies.

Jack was a jerk his whole life and when he died, not even heaven wanted to grant him access. He then tried his luck with the devil. But Satan stuck to his end of the deal and hurled a piece of coal from hell at the dead man for good measure.

Left with nowhere to go, Jack placed the blazing coal in a turnip to use as a lantern, doomed he wandered the earth until he could find an eternal resting place.

Costumes

Dressing up in costumes and begging door-to-door for treats goes back to the Middle Ages. During the Samhain festival, people dressed up in ghost costumes to avoid being recognized by evil spirits.

The wearing of costumes only took off with the rise of trick-or-treating. These days, you can wear any kind of costume for Halloween, thousands of people dress as characters or objects which are in no way related to the traditional Samhain festival.