Halloween became the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain. Over the centuries, Halloween transitioned from a pagan way to a day of parties, outfits, jack-o-lanterns, and trick-or-treating for kids and adults.
Amidst the festivities, do you ever wonder about the origin and history of Halloween, such as its meaning and whether it is pagan Christian? The answer: It’s complicated and shaped by secular pop culture through the ages. So let’s attack into fun facts about the holiday and how its most famous traditions became.
What is Halloween?
Halloween is a holiday that celebrates the day before the Western Christian feast of All Saints, or All Hallows, and starts the season of Allhallowtide. In much of Europe and North America, a celebration of Halloween is mainly non-religious.
Why Do We Celebrate Halloween on October 31?
The ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, which arose on November 1 but kicked off the evening before, is the most earlier known root of some of our secular Halloween traditions. It marked a critical time of year when seasons changed. Still, more significantly, observers also accepted the boundary between this world and the next became extremely thin, enabling them to connect with the dead. It is also where Halloween achieves its “haunted” connotations.
The path to the Christian Halloween date of October 31 is slightly more complex. Pope Boniface IV began All Saints Day in the earlier 7th century when he devoted the Pantheon in Rome to the saints, but the day was May 13. In the next century, Pope Gregory III changed the day to November 1, when he devoted a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica to the saints. On October 31, another century later, Pope Gregory IV added All Saints Day to the Christian calendar, extending the festivity from Rome to churches. With All Saints Day arrived All Hallows’ Eve. It was, perhaps, an effort to offset the pagan celebration of Samhain with a spiritual festival.
The History of Halloween Activities
The early pagan holiday of Samhain involved a lot of formal ceremonies to connect to spirits, as the Celts were polytheistic. While there isn’t a lot of element known about these celebrations, many believe the Celts celebrated in the outfit. They were likely as simple as animal hides) as a mask against ghosts, enjoyed special feasts, and made lanterns by hollowing out gourds (hence, the history of jack-o’-lanterns). Over time, as Christianity took over and lessened the pagan undertones of the holiday, the basic traditions of the holiday remained a part of pop culture every year; they evolved and modernized.
The mysterious rituals of earlier times evolved into more casual fun and games. For example, the somewhat heavy concept of connecting to the dead replaced the more lighthearted idea of telling the future. Bobbing for apples.
For example, became famous as a fortune-telling game on All Hallows’ Eve: Apples would select to represent all of a woman’s suitors, and the guy—er, apple—she ended up biting into would supposedly represent her future husband. Halloween previously posed a vast (albeit somewhat superstitious) matchmaking opportunity for young women in the 19th century.
Another popular All Hallows’ Eve tradition was mirror-gazing, as people hoped to catch the imagination of their future by looking into the mirror. There are also reports of fortune-cookie-like favors given out during earlier times. People wrote messages on scraps of paper in milk, and the notes were then tucked and placed into walnut shells. The shells would be heated over a fire, causing the milk to be brown just enough for the message to appear on the paper for the recipient mystically.
How Halloween Is Celebrated Today
Halloween remains a popular holiday in America today, but it almost didn’t make it across the Atlantic. The Puritans disapproved of the holiday’s pagan roots, so they didn’t participate.
Today, our Halloween traditions continue to evolve. Instead of trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, some deck out their automobiles in spooky tailgate fashion for community trunk-or-treats, often held in school or church parking lots.
On October 31, Yet, Halloween remains, and how communities celebrate the new National Trick-or-Treat Day, if at all, trusts local organizers.
