Halloween is a holiday many have grown to love over the years. From the candy to the decorations, creative costumes, and scary movies, there is something for everyone to do in the spooky season. Halloween originated from the Celtic festival Samhain (pronounced Sow-in), which shares Halloween’s date of October 31st. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1st, marking the end of the warm summer and the start of the barren winter, which was thought to be the deadliest time of the year for the Celts. They believed that on the night before the new year, the bridge between the living and dead was connected and had the festival in the belief that the ghosts of the dead could come back. During this time, the Celts also believed that their priests or Druids could tell the future. The Celts would have a great bonfire where they would burn crops and animals in sacrifice to their gods in return for protection from these ghosts. While around the bonfire, they would dress in costumes, usually made of animal fur and heads, and would gather to tell each other’s fortunes. After the celebration, they would relight the fires in their hearths.
When the Celts were conquered by the Romans in 43 A.D., the Romans combined two of their own holidays: Feralia, which was originally in late February and honored the dead, and Pomona, which honored the goddess of fruit and trees. Her symbol was the apple, which explains the tradition of bobbing apples in modern celebrations of Halloween. By 1000 A.D., when Christianity became more widespread in Europe, it spread to the land of the Celts, and it was declared by the church that the holiday All Souls' Day would be moved to November 2nd from its original date of May 13th. The holiday was when they honored their dead, and it is believed that the church replaced the Celtic holiday with the more church-approved holiday. All Souls' Day was reserved for prayers and Masses, leaving out all celebrations that it once had. The name All Souls' Day was also known as All Hallows' Eve and was later changed to Halloween in modern days.
The tradition of trick-or-treating dates back to All Souls' Day, when they would have parades where families would hand out “Soul cakes” in return for prayers for their dead relatives. Once the tradition of Halloween reached America, some of the traditions stayed. People would dress in costumes and go house to house asking for money or food. This was later coined as “trick-or-treating.” By the 1800s, the superstitions and religious aspects of Halloween were in full swing; the holiday was related to all spurts of ghouls, demons, and witchcraft. People would dress up in costumes to confuse these creatures of the night and protect them from any harm.
By the turn of the century, Halloween parties became popular for both children and adults alike. These parties held games and brought back the tradition of bobbing apples, as well as seasonal foods including pumpkins, apples, corn, and nuts. The parties also allowed people to dress up in festive costumes. During the 1920s and 1950s, the more modern Halloween arose, keeping most of the traditions named before but also having the requirement of people giving out candy or having the fear of having tricks played on them by the older children.
Halloween is also famous for its superstitions, keeping a spooky vibe by claiming most things that were considered bad luck. The number 13 is the most common. Having Christian ties to its unluckiness, there are now Halloween movies that constantly use 13, and most specifically, the movie “Friday the 13th,” which is known to be one of the most famous scary movies. Black cats are also another superstition claimed by the Halloween holiday, seen as unlucky to cross your path. Halloween movies have claimed them as lovable sidekicks to the protagonists, most famously “Binx” in the movie Hocus Pocus, as well as “Salem” from Sabrina the Teenage Witch.