The daily trot

by Payton Cleary

Most people know Halloween today as a time to dress up and carve pumpkins; however, these modern traditions have roots in history.

Halloween roots back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain,a pagan religious celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of summer. This tradition would light bonfires to ward off any evil spirits while dressing up. 

In the eighth century, 

Pope Gregory the 3rd designated November 1st as a time to honor,and this honor was saints, this was called all saints day. The day before November 1st was known as All Hallows Eve. As the Scottish and the Irish came to America, their tradition of Hallows Eve followed with them. In the late 1800s the tradition combined with locals, changing the original idea of Hallows eve into Halloween as we know today. 

Here are some of the modern traditions that came from these historical times. 

Carving Jack-o lanterns. 

The tradition of carving Jack-o lanterns actually originated in Ireland where they caved into turnips not pumpkins, carving scary faces to scare away any evil spirits. 

Wearing costumes 

In order to not be followed or haunted by evil spirits walking the earth during Celtic festival of Samhain, citizens wore disguises to confuse the spirits. 

Trick or treating 

There are three traditions of trick or treating. The first theory suggests that during the Celtic festival of Samhain, Celtic people would leave food out to appease the spirits that are traveling the earth at night. Over time, people would dress like spirits to try to obtain free food. 

The second theory stems from the Scottish practice of guising, this theory explains how kids were dressed up to go door to door performing tricks, singing or making jokes to get rewarded with food. 

The third theory was that modern American trick or treating comes from belsnickeling. A German- American Christmas tradition where the kids dress up and call their neighbors to see if the adults could guess the identity of the one in disguise, where sometimes they were rewarded with food or treats. 

Although today ghosts, goblins and comedic characters roam the streets during the night, many ancient traditions made this possible. With Halloween approaching, now is the time to appreciate the origins of this spooky day.