The Story Of Halloween

By Mia Carrero

The tale of Halloween started two thousand years ago when the Celtic people would celebrate Samhain. Samhain, the night before the first of November, the Celtic people would celebrate their new year because their crops started slowly dying, which caused it to become colder.They correlated this with death. The people believed that on the night of Samhain, ghosts, along with otherworldly spirits, would come back to earth. The presence of these spirits would help Celtic priests make predictions of the future. They celebrate Samhain with many traditions, such as lighting bonfires and dressing in animal skins. Christianity later took some customs from Samhain and made them their own. Pope Gregory III changed the feast of All Martyrs Day from May 13th to November 1st and he expanded it to the saints. They later made November 2nd All Souls Day, which is a day to celebrate the dead. This well-honored feast was believed that Christians were trying to replace Samhain with a holiday related to the church. They called October 31st “All-Hallows-Eve”, then later named it Halloween.