Halloween is one of the most widely celebrated holidays around the world and is loved by nearly everyone, but most people don’t know the true origin of the celebration.
Most of our Halloween traditions came from a celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced Sow-in). Samhain was a festival that celebrated the start of a new year, it was celebrated on November 1st- marking the end of summertime and the harvest. The Celts believed that ghosts returned to the earth on the night before the new year. This special event was celebrated with large bonfires, fortune-telling, and costumes made from animal heads and skins, these were the original Halloween costumes.
Many Halloween customs also come from the Catholic celebration of All Saints Day. All Saints Day honors the church’s martyrs and saints; it was originally celebrated on May 13th, but was eventually changed to November 1st. Most people celebrated by dressing as holy figures, famous saints and angels or devils the day before. Angel and devil costumes are still very popular today and dressing up as saints continued the celtic tradition of wearing costumes on November 1st. Halloween also got its name from All Saints Day. The holiday was also called All-Hallowsmas or simply All-Hallows, making the day before (Oct. 31) All-Hallows Eve and eventually, Halloween.
Trick-or-treating- perhaps the most popular Halloween tradition, didn't start until years after Halloween became a popular holiday. It came from the early medieval times, poor families would receive ‘Soul Cakes’ from wealthy families as long as they promised to pray for the wealthy family’s dead relatives. In Ireland and Scotland, this tradition evolved into children performing ‘tricks’ such as telling a story, dancing or singing for an audience, and receiving ‘treats’ such as fruits or nuts in exchange. Nowadays most kids simply show off their costumes and receive candy, but it’s clear where this fun Halloween tradition came from.
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