In this informative article by Teagan McNamara, we will be looking into Halloween's history, origin, and why we celebrate it to this day. So grab some candy and popcorn while we look back at times when the dead would come back to Earth!
All Hallows Eve, also known as Halloween, is an annual October holiday. Every night, on the 31st of October people dress up, gather candy, and watch scary movies. There's some history and reason behind why we celebrate Halloween, and why we do these activities. However the holiday is different from thousands of years ago.
Halloween originated 2000 years ago. Originally a Celtic, Pagan holiday, the Celts called it the festival of Samhain. According to History.com editors. Samhain is the night they believe the dead came back to Earth. People would offer sacrifices and light bonfires. Samhain distinguished the end of summer and the end of the harvest season. Also, it signaled the beginning of winter. Pagans associated winter with death. In Celtic celebrations, villagers would dress in costumes of animal skins. This was to scare away bad spirits or phantom visitors. They prepared food and exchanged. That is why we trick-or-treat today, although we did not start trick-or-treating in America till the 1930’s.
Much like Día de los Muertos or “Day of the Dead”, the Celts would be close to their family members who have passed and the gate between them was thin, allowing spirits of the dead to visit the living, according to Dhruti Bhagat of the Boston Public Library.
Yet today, according to The US Department of State’s English and Culture department, some celebrate Halloween as a Christian holiday. The Pagan holiday was tied to more modern Christianity to scare away harmful spirits or even the devil. Some believe the holiday itself is evil when the holiday is to scare away bad or evil.
Overall, Halloween is an old holiday celebrated for generations from the Celts to Americans. Overall the meaning of Hallows Eve has stayed the same. While we dress up in costumes, gather candy and scare away bad spirits. I hope you have a greatly terrifying Halloween and learned a little bit more today about why we celebrate this holiday.
Halloween Costumes 1918 (flickr.com)
Classic 20th century traditional Halloween party (freesvg.org)
3 girls on Halloween Cincinnati, Ohio, 1929 (cnn.com)
