Halloween's Predecessor: Samhain 

    What comes to your mind when you think of Halloween? Perhaps candies, costumes, and scary decorations, but have you ever wondered where this fest of sweets and fun originated? Let’s take a look into Halloween’s predecessor: Samhain. 

    Halloween is a popular holiday celebrated in many countries around the world, yet many are unaware that Halloween originated from a Celtic tradition named Samhain, which literally means “summer’s end” (can also be perceived as autumn) in Gaelic. 

     Samhain is a Scottish and Irish tradition/holiday, it’s usually celebrated on the first of November or the 31st of October. This tradition can be celebrated in many ways, one purpose is to mark the end of harvests and the dawn of winter, another is to celebrate a new year. Yet the most interesting is that it’s also a time where the Celts believed that the barrier between the living and dead thinned which allowed the spirits to return to the living world. They’d usually light bonfires in honor of their ancestors or the dead and to ward off evil or stray ghosts from the living. Some sources also claim that bonfires were lit to burn sacrifices and offerings to the dead. 

     There are also many activities that are precursors to modern Halloween. For instance, carving faces in vegetables such as turnips and radishes where usually a candle or burning coal is placed within. This tradition) can be traced back to Irish folklore: Stingy Jack. In short, Stingy Jack was a clever man who tricked The Devil many times that when he died, neither heaven nor hell would let him in. As he was condemned to wander in the dark forever, The Devil gave him a single coal which Jack put inside a carved turnip to light his way. The Celts believed that these lights can guide the wandering spirits similar to Jack, so they’d put carved and lit vegetables on the way to the bonfire, now often known as Jack-o-Lanterns.

     Furthermore, another significant tradition would be the costumes. The Celts often dressed up as grotesque  and terrifying figures on Samhain, their face usually covered with a mask that resembled a supposedly animal or human head, commonly made from materials like animal skin, pelts, and wool. They did this to blend in with the nonliving and pretend to be a malicious spirit to scare the stray ghosts away. This combined with the traditions of the Celts where they leave offerings of food around their doorsteps to appease the spirits, and the medieval tradition of guising, which is where people performed tricks such as singing, dancing to exchange for food. These practices eventually combined together around the medieval times where they’d go around in their costumes and ask for food that was meant for the spirits door by door. Thus, forming the very first edition of trick-or-treating. 

     Samhain’s large influence on North America was because of the mass amount of Scottish and Irish immigrants who migrated around the 18th century, it merged with a Christian holiday: All Saints Day. Because Samhain happened to be right on the night before All Saints Day, October 31. Therefore, it took on the name of “All Hallow’s Eve”, which meant “the evening before all saints”, and eventually got shortened to “Hallowe’en” in a Scottish accent.

     In modern times, we can see shadows of Samhain tradition in Halloween significantly. The costumes, Jack-o-Lanterns, and trick-or-treating just to name a few. So the next time you dress up or carve a pumpkin, remember, you’re not just celebrating Halloween but rather keeping a piece of tradition alive.