Halloween: A Brief History

Samhain  is the ancient holiday from which the Halloween we know and love originated.
Photo courtesy of  uncgbls.files.wordpress.com.

Everyone has fond memories of Halloween night. From the early years of our youth when parents and friends would adorn themselves in garments and costumes of our favorite themes and swarm the surrounding neighborhood for sweets, to the more adult celebrations of dressing in a more provocative manner and celebrating the anonymity of the evening at parties and night clubs. Halloween has always been regarded as a time to celebrate. The origins of Halloween prove this even more so.

    According to history.com, Halloween first originated from a Celtic holiday called Samhain (pronounced as sow-in). Roughly 2000 years ago, in parts of what is now modern day Europe, the Celts would celebrate their new year on November 1 after a long harvest, and the night before the new year was believed to be a time when the boundary between the living and the dead was blurred and spirits roamed the land. The Celts believed that these spirits allowed their priests, the Druids, to make more accurate predictions for the coming winter months. In celebration, the Druids would build large fires to commemorate and make sacrifices to their deities while the Celts wore costumes of animal skins and heads and told fortunes. After the celebration, they lit their hearth fires from the celebratory fire to help protect them in the coming winter months.

    By 43 A.D., after the Romans had taken over most of Celtic territory, they combined the holiday Samhain with their own holidays. In late October, the Romans would first start by celebrating Feralia, where they would honor their dead; their second holiday was to honor Pomona, the goddess of fruits and berries, whose symbol was the apple. This is where the Halloween tradition of “bobbing” for apples originates. 

    By 731 A.D., the celebration of the Christian holiday “All Martyrs Day” was moved by Pope Gregory III to November 1, and, by the year 1000, the holiday “All Souls Day” had been established on November 2 to honor the dead. It is widely believed that the church was trying to keep the idea of the original Celtic holiday in mind, but keep it church sanctioned. All Souls Day was celebrated very similarly to Samhain, with large bonfires and costumes. The night before the celebration was known as “All Hallows Eve”, which is where the term Halloween originates.

    Halloween didn’t become especially popular in America until the second half of the 19th Century. Immigrants fleeing from the famine in Ireland looked to America in their time of struggle, and these immigrants brought with them the traditions of Halloween. Eventually, Americans followed the example of the Irish and English immigrants and began going on Halloween night asking for food or money, which is where the tradition of trick-or-treating comes from. By the turn of the century, both children and adults would celebrate Halloween with parties, but usually would exclude anything considered scary or grotesque. Because of this, Halloween lost most of its religious overtones.

    Even from its inception, Halloween has always been known as a time to celebrate. Honoring dearly departed souls and warding off evil spirits with treats have been traditions for as long as the holiday has been around. Halloween has many traditions associated with it, and these are just some of the aspects of Halloween that everyone associates the holiday with. For more information about other various superstitions and traditions, such as not getting “tricked” and more about the history of dressing up, go to www.history.com/topics/Halloween/history-of-halloween.