Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31st.
It is easily one of the most popular holidays in America today.
But where did it come from?
The origins of Halloween can best be traced through two or three different traditions.
The first of these traditions came from a tribe of warriors who lived on the British
Isles.
They were known as Celts, and they celebrated a holiday known as Samhain (pronounced Saw-win.
This is the Gaelic word for “November”).
Samhain was celebrated at the end of October, just as we celebrate Halloween.
Samhain was one of their most important holidays, as it represented the transition from summer
to winter.
The Celts believed that on this night, those who had died in the previous year could walk
the Earth once more.
To appease these spirits, the Celts would parade to the edge of their village with offerings,
trying to encourage the spirits to stay away from their homes.
They would also leave food and drinks outside as gifts for the dead.
This tradition can easily be seen as the early beginnings of what would eventually become
trick-or-treating.
Aside from the Celtic tradition of Samhain, the ancient Romans also provided some of the
early roots of Halloween.
The Romans celebrated a harvest holiday known as Pomona.
This holiday was in honor of a Roman goddess (also named Pomona) who was the goddess of
gardens and fruit.
To thank Pomona for a bountiful harvest, the Romans would lay out apples and nuts in tribute.
To this day, apples remain an important symbol of Halloween (in particular, in the form of
apple bobbing).
When the Romans conquered the British Isles, the traditions of Samhain and Pomona began
to merge with each other to become one holiday.
Several hundred years after the Romans and Celts, another influence affected the history
of Halloween.
The Catholic Church began recognizing November 1st as All Saints' Day.
This was a holiday which honored all Catholic saints who did not already have a holiday
of their own.
All Saints' Day also became known by the name All Hallows’ Day.
Thus, the night before All Hallows’ Day became known as All Hallows’ Evening, or
All Hallows’ Eve (just as the night before Christmas is known as Christmas Eve).
Since the old traditions of Samhain and Pomona already existed, the traditions were simply
adopted to accommodate the new holiday of All Hallows’ Eve.
This was an easy adjustment, since most Catholic nations were still using the old customs.
Over the course of time, as the holiday moved from country to country, the term All Hallows'
Eve was altered and manipulated, and eventually became Hallow’een, or simply Halloween.
Halloween found its way to America with some of its earliest settlers, those who arrived
in Virginia.
For many years, Halloween was primarily a southern holiday.
However, the American version of Halloween got its biggest boost in popularity in the
mid-1800s.
Throughout that century, Irish immigrants came to the US and brought many of their Halloween
traditions with them.
Halloween did not truly become the holiday that children know and love until the 1900s,
though.
Through the first half of the 20th Century, Halloween continued to grow in popularity.
By the mid-1950s, costume parties and trick-or-treating were both well on their way to becoming American
traditions.