The History of Halloween

Halloween wasn't always the kid-friendly, candy-eating, sexy-maid-costume-wearing holiday we know it to be today. A study of the history of Halloween shows that the celebration has origins in disparate cultural festivals that denote many different traditions, but most, as you would expect, are associated with the macabre.

European origins

Halloween's origins date back 2,000 years to the Celts. These early Europeans celebrated the New Year on the first day of November, marking the end of summer and its blooming plants and the start of winter with the death of leaves and crops.

The Celts believed that on the night before the New Year begins, the spiritual world merges with the physical and spirits roam the land. The people celebrated this night, calling it Samhain. Celtic priests built fires and sacrificed animals to the gods, while the people wore costumes and called out to their ancestors.

Roman conquest brings change

When the Romans conquered the Celts, they absorbed the Samhain festival and merged it with their own celebration, Feralia, a recognition of souls that have crossed over. If you've wondered why people bob for apples on Halloween, it comes from the Romans honoring their goddess of fruits during the fall festivities.

The spread of Christianity into Europe brought the influence of the Roman Catholic leadership. Pope Boniface IV picked November 1st as All Saints' Day (All-Hallowmas in the Celtic language), a day to honor the church's saints. He also chose October 31st to be All Hallows Eve. On All Hallows Eve, the Irish carved lanterns from root vegetables such as turnips. They often carved a face on the front of the vegetable, a visage meant to frighten away evil spirits.

Boniface IV wanted the Europeans to cease celebrating pagan holidays, so he gave them a Catholic one with festivities that mimicked the pagan celebrations, including the costumes, bonfires and honoring of the dead. Later the church designated November 2nd as All Souls' Day to more fully incorporate the Celtic traditions.

Coming to America

Europeans brought their traditions of celebrating the dead and the start of winter to America, first during the settling of the colonies and in later years when immigrants came to the country.

Since America is a melting pot, the holiday merged with celebrations from other cultures, most notably that of the Native Americans, who already had traditions that celebrated the solstice and the change of seasons, as would be expected from agrarian cultures. People celebrated the harvest and wore costumes and talked about ghosts. The Irish lantern carving tradition changed as the new immigrants moved from using the turnip to the plentiful, native-grown pumpkin.

Tricks and treats

The Scots brought the practice of wearing costumes and going from house to house asking for food or money, called Guising. There was no "trick or treat" back then; it was "trick and treat." Kids performed or sang and would receive treats. The practice descended from early Europe, where the poor offered prayers in return for food on All Saints' Day.

Modern Halloween

However, the biggest changes to Halloween, which molded the holiday into what we now recognize, were pressures from society. There was a lot of mischief-making and old-time superstitions associated with Halloween in the America of the late 1800s. Trick or treating was seen as begging and not very American, so many community leaders tried to erase this behavior from their neighborhoods.

The efforts failed, of course, and certainly the merchants who do business around the Halloween celebrations are grateful; the holiday is the second-largest commercial success, bested only by Christmas.