The History of Halloween

in Arts & Culture by Jillian — October 18, 2009 |

Some believe Halloween came from the Mexican custom of El Di­a de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), where at midnight on October 31st festivities begin to celebrate death. However, it is believed that our tradition of Halloween comes from the ancient Celtic festival Samhain. On the eve of November 1st, the Celts marked the end of summer and their harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. At the time, winter was often associated with human death due to lack of food and below freezing temperatures. Celts believed that on the eve of the winter ahead, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and the ghosts of the dead returned to Earth.

Having the boundary for the living and the dead broken, it was believed to be easier to tell each others fortunes for the winter ahead. To commemorate the event, huge bonfires were built and people gathered around to burn crops and make animal sacrifices. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes that mostly consisted of animal heads and skins.

When the Romans conquered a majority of the Celtic territory, two festivals of Roman tradition were combined with the Celtic celebration of Samhain; Feralia and Pomona. Feralia was a time when the Romans would commemorate those who had died. Pomona was the day to honor Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees. It is believed the tradition of bobbing for apples that people still do today came from the celebration of Pomona since the symbol of the goddess is the apple.

Hundreds of years later, Christianity created their own version of Samhain known today as “All Souls Day,” a day to honor the dead. As Christianity spread among the Celtics, they renamed Samhain to All-hallowmas from the Middle English word Alholowmesse meaning All Saints Day. They called the eve of the celebration All-hallows Eve. Eventually, All-hallows Eve would be simply called Halloween as we know it today.

Over the next couple hundreds of years, the All-hallows Eve tradition spread throughout Europe and as European immigrants came to America, so did their traditions. It was in America that All-hallows Eve would change to simply be called Halloween as we know it today. Celebrations of the dead and the fall harvest were still part of the holiday, but new traditions such as “trick or treat” soon emerged. Trick or treating first started as a tradition where people dressed in costumes would go house to house asking for food or money, but for decades this tradition was highly frowned upon in many communities. Costumes turned from the common ghosts and witches to scarier versions of everyday people.

In America, Halloween became more of a community centered celebration like we know it today. Although ghosts and goblins play a part in the decor, Halloween is mostly about dressing up as your favorite character. Trick or treating was embraced again, but the spirits of the dead play less and less of a factor in the celebration of the holiday as years go by.

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Tags: history behind halloween history of halloween history of halloween holiday the history of halloween