Why Do We Celebrate Halloween?

Halloween today is known as an event that takes place in the U.S. and other parts of the world on October 31st. However, Halloween originated from very old new year’s festivals to honor the dead. During the 800s A.C., the church established the holiday of All Saints Day on the 1st of November. A mass was traditionally held during All Saints Day and was called “Allhallowma.” This is how the eve before All Saints Day became known as, “All Hallow e'en”, and eventually, Halloween.

Celtic Samain Festival

The actual source of the Halloween festival that people celebrate today is believed to have come from the Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts lived over 2,000 years ago and November 1st designated the start of their new year. They celebrated the eve of the New Year through a festival honoring Samhain, the lord of death.

The day also marked the onset of a new season of darkness, cold, and death. On the festival’s evening, the teacher and priests of the Celts known as the Druids, built bonfires to burn crops, animals, and even humans as sacrifices. During this festival, the community would sometimes wear costumes made of skins, heads, and teeth of animals. They would even tell prophecies about the coming year by studying the remains of the animals they had sacrificed.

Around 43 A.C, The Romans had conquered the Celts. In effect, they combined two of their fall festivals with the Samhain festival of the Celts. One of these festivals was the Feralia, which was held during the latter part of October to honor the dead.

Celts Conversion to Christianity

When the Celts converted to Christianity, many of their festivals were still preserved. The Roman church officially established All Saints Day on the 1st of November and incorporated the ancient pagan practices into this new sacred day.

Later, ancient American settlers arrived from England and from other Celtic regions. They brought with them their customs and traditions. However, due to the firm religious beliefs of the previous settlers, the feast of Halloween was not accepted until later in the 1800s when many immigrants from Ireland and Scotland arrived.

Origin of Trick or Treating

In the mid 1900s jokes and pranks during Halloween, which started out as harmless fun, eventually became rough and rowdy. To make the celebration much safer, the towns started to bribe children with treats to keep them from causing any trouble. This is how the popular “Trick or Treating” began.

Another version of the origin of trick-or-treat is said to have come from a European custom called “souling” during the 9th century. During All Souls Day held on November 2, Christians would roam round walking from one village to another to beg for “soul cakes.” These cakes were made out of pieces of bread with currants.

The larger the amount of soul cakes received, the more prayers these beggars promised to say on behalf of the donors’ dead relatives. Because during that time, they believed that those who have passed remained in limbo and prayers, even those coming from strangers, would hasten the souls’ passage to heaven.

Costumes

Regardless of their origin, generally, these practices were adopted together with other Halloween practices such as wearing costumes, pumpkin-carving, fortune telling and other games. Witches and ghosts also became symbols of Halloween because people used to believe that they roam the earth and gather during the 31st of October to honor the devil.

Halloween Today

The Halloween festival has evolved over the years. This celebration has become very popular in the US, the UK, Canada, and even in some parts of Asia due to the increasing exposure to American culture through media such as television in recent years.

Although Halloween of modern day still involves sometimes terrifying images of ghosts, witches, monsters, and zombies, gone are the dark and morbid stories that these images once held. Today, it is all part of the fun and excitement of this festival to scare and be scared by others through horrifying costumes. It’s also that one day of the year, when kids, and the kids at heart, can never have too much candy.