Halloween is a spookily fun holiday that many people celebrate worldwide. Though this does bring about the question of why we even celebrate Halloween.

About two thousand years ago, Celts from Ireland and Scotland celebrated a Pagan holiday called Samhain (pronounced sow-in). It was celebrated to mark the end of the summer harvest season, and it was also believed to be the time where the veil between our world and the Otherworld is the thinnest, which then allowed spirits to return.

Family ancestors were welcomed and invited into homes with food, while evil spirits were warded off. Celts wore scary costumes and masks outside to disguise themselves as the evil spirits to avoid harm.

The Celts also made bonfires and sacrificed cattle to appease their gods and would then bring part of the fire to their homes to relight their fireplace.

Over some time, Christian missionaries tried to convert the Celts which led to the missionaries trying to be rid of Samhain altogether. Though in 601 A.D, Pope Gregory I issued that the Christian religion would incorporate the Pagan holiday as one of their own.

The Christians created All Saints Day to attempt to incorporate Samhain. By doing this, it would honor all the people who have died, Saint or not. This spanned from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 of each year.

The two day celebration branched off into two different holidays after some time. Samhain was later called All Hallows, eventually being called All Hallows Eve, and then finally became what we all know as Halloween.

For more information on this topic, click below:

https://www.newgrange.com/samhain.htm

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/samhain#:~:text=Samhain%20is%20a%20pagan%20religious,dark%20half%20of%20the%20year.%E2%80%9D

http://www.math.uni.edu/~campbell/gened/samhaim.html#:~:text=Samhain%20became%20the%20Halloween%20we,practices%20of%20the%20Celtic%20people.&text=In%20601%20A.D.%20Pope%20Gregory,peoples%20he%20hoped%20to%20convert.