How Did Halloween Originate?

At Terror 29 it’s Halloween everyday! Whether you are haunted house hopping, trick or treating, or having a Friday the 13th marathon, Halloween is just a time of excitement and fun. Have you ever wondered where Halloween came from and who actually started it all, though? Halloween has ancient origins, going back 2000 years to the Celts in Ireland. Samhain was the Celtic “New Years”. It signified the end of the harvest season, the coming of winter, and the thinning of the veil between the living and the dead.  

While they weren’t trick or treating or visiting the nation’s scariest haunted houses, they started what we now celebrate as the best day of the year.  Their belief that this was the time for ghostly visitors started some well-known traditions and celebrations that are still around today. Surely you’ve been to a bonfire! Well the Celts actually called them bone fires and they were a major part of the Samhain celebration. They would burn bones of sacrificed cattle (among other things) in their fires during the celebration. Everyone would gather around the bone fires for a great party with their community, including food and drinks. Since the dead were expected at this party, the Celts would disguise themselves in an attempt to trick the spirits. They would wear masks of animal skins and use ashes to color their faces, sounds a lot like a costume to me. This would allow them to deceive any spirit that may be coming for them with ill intentions or revenge for the past.  

About 500 years later, Christianity came to Ireland and changes were made to the Samhain celebration. With the start of All Saint’s Day, Samhain was changed to All Hallows’ Day and moved from October 31st to November 1st. Once the celebration was Christianized, All Hallows’ Eve began and was celebrated the night before with prayer and fasting. There were still bonfires, though they were to honor Christians now. We also see the beginning of trick-or-treating during this time! The tradition was called “souling” and it is very different from what we think of when we think of trick-or-treating. The poor people in the community would go door to door praying for the families and asking for soul-cakes. 

Enough about ancient history!  How did Halloween finally get to North America and turn into what we know it as today? The Samhain, All Hallows’ Eve, and All Hallows’ Day celebrations came to North America about 175 years ago when the Irish were displaced during the great potato famine. Of course by now, there are other folk traditions that had been infused into the historic celebrations that occurred hundreds of years ago. We now have jack-o-lanterns.  The Irish started this tradition with turnips! They would hollow out and carve faces on turnips to protect themselves from evil spirits while they were out “souling” on All Hallows’ Eve. The change to pumpkins was made after they came to America since they were easier to carve.

So now you know where the best holiday of the year comes from! Over the years (or hundreds and thousands of years), new traditions were started and incorporated into the celebration to make it what we know and celebrate today. What started out with bonfires and simple costumes is now the candy business’s favorite time of year!  (And ours too!)