The Origin of Halloween: A Spooky Story

Written by: Anna Pafenberg

Ancient Times

Many societies all over the world celebrate a fall holiday relating to spooks and scares, dressing up in fun costumes, and overall enjoying an eerie season, but how did Halloween come to be? Every October 31st, people celebrate a holiday with origins going back to an ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts lived 3,000 years ago in Western Europe. To ward off ghosts, people would dress in costumes and light bonfires, similar to how people in more modern times dress up! The Celts believed that this return of spirits could help Druids, Celtic priests, predict the future better. In 43 A.D., the Romans had conquered most of the Celtic territory and merged Samhain with two of their festivals, Feralia and Pomoma. Pomona was the goddess of fruit, which may be a clue as to why apple bobbing is popular at this time of year. Young people would use the activity to predict their future relationships. 

Christian Traditions

Pope Gregory III decided that night between October 31st and November 1st would be All Saints Day, and soon the traditions from the two annual days merged into one celebration. The first name for the merger of these two days was All Hallows Eve, but soon became Halloween in more casual terms. Instead of honoring Saints and warding off ghosts, the holiday became a happy one of trick or treating and dressing up in fun costumes. In 1,000 A.D., the Christian Church made November 2nd All Souls Day as Christianity had spread into Celtic territory as well. This was best explained as a way to celebrate the holiday with the approval of the Church. 

Modern Halloween

All Souls Day is the closest connection based on tradition to our modern Halloween celebrations. All Soul’s Day parades are similar to trick-or-treating as people would hand out pastries called ‘Soul Cakes’ to the poor who begged for food. In order to obtain one, prayer for passed relatives of those giving the cake had to be honored. Modern American Halloween is believed to have originated like many things in the United States, from England. While the first settlers had a strict set of religious beliefs forbidding them to participate, some American colonies like the Southern ones celebrated and carried on traditions to this day. In the 1950s, candy that we know of was introduced as the ‘treat’ aspect of Halloween, which was dried foods prior.