It’s officially October! The season of falling leaves, pumpkin spice everything and my favorite holiday, Halloween, is among us. It’s time for spooky decor, scary movies, warm comfy clothes, dressing up with friends and just simply having a fun time. We’re all excited for this season, but have you ever wondered what started this holiday and how we came to celebrate it today?
Halloween is one of the oldest traditions in the world. When first introduced, Halloween was a day for the living world to connect with the dead and a way to honor those who passed. This tradition of connection can be traced all the way back to the Celtic Festival of Samhain, a religious festival that celebrated the welcoming of the harvest and the coming of winter. They believed that by celebrating, the barriers between the physical and spiritual world would thin and they could interact.
In the 5th century, as the Catholic Church grew, they merged the festival with their church-sanctioned holidays. November 1st became known as “All Saints Day”, a day where they celebrated all martyrs along with the faithful departed. The Church did this as a way to convert more people to the religion. “All Saints Day” was then called “Hallowmas”, “hallow” meaning “holy”, so the holiday roughly translated to “Mass of the Saints”. The day before “Hallowmas” became known as “All Hallows’ Eve” and soon got shortened to the name we know today, Halloween!
When Irish immigrants came to America during the potato famine, they brought the holiday with them. They also brought along traditions such as jack o’ lanterns, which originated from an Irish folktale named “Stingy Jack”. The story revolves around a clever con man, Stingy Jack, inviting the Devil for a drink. He tricks the devil into leaving him alone for a year and sparing his soul. Once Jack died, the Devil agreed. After that year was over, he once again tricked the Devil into leaving him alone for another ten years. Once Jack died, neither the Devil nor God would accept him, so they sent him away into the eternal night. He spends the rest of his days roaming Earth with a carved, candlelit turnip to light his way. The turnip in the story soon turned into a pumpkin in the tradition and is now the classic jack o’ lantern we carve today.
Another tradition they brought along with them was the tradition of what we know as trick-or-treating. This came from two medieval practices, called “souling” and “guising”. “Souling” was a practice where poor people would beg for pastries. In return, they would pray for the rich people’s deceased loved ones. “Guising” was a practice involving people dressing up as evil spirits and asking for offerings to ward off evil.
When Halloween came to America, young pranksters would pull harmless tricks on their neighbors, like taking their fences. They would wear masks and costumes to avoid recognition while they pulled said pranks. These harmless tricks would eventually escalate to vandalism. The youngsters would threaten to vandalize and harass the neighborhoods unless they were given treats. The adult would give them treats and hope for the best.
The term “Trick-or-Treating” was coined in the 1920s, around the time Halloween was becoming increasingly commercialized. Nowadays, trick-or-treating is simple. You’re either a parent taking your kid around to enjoy the experience, a teen with nothing but candy on their mind or a kid who’s still in that grade school age range where Halloween is magical. This is the age where movies, songs and traditions mean a lot, and the memories you make follow you into adulthood.
No matter what your opinion is on Halloween, we can all agree that it’s about experiences and making memories. No matter how you spend it this year, have a safe and spooky Halloween!