The Origin of Halloween
2 min read
By Summer Adams
People celebrate Halloween as a day to dress up and get candy from their neighbors, but where did Halloween originate?
According to the site “The Origins of Halloween Traditions” Halloween came from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Samhain is a pagan celebration to welcome the harvest. People would have bonfires and wear costumes to ward of ghosts. Later Pope Gregory III claimed November 1st as “All Saints Day” which incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. This later shaped our view of Halloween.
Samhain’s main purpose for this holiday was for the Celtics to scare away spirits. They believed that during this time of year, the wall between realms was thinned. With this celebration happening over 2,000 years ago, it’s hard to accurately describe what happened. Many believe that a sacrifice was part of their celebration. Samhain wasn’t just about the recognition of dead, it also acknowledged the harvest, there were bon fires and families would take a piece of wood from the main fire and take it home and have their own fire with it later. This would create a communal bond with other members of their community.
One may be asking “how does this tie in with the celebration of Halloween?” Some believe that trick or treating came from the Celtics who believed that spirits would come to their house. To keep the spirits happy, they would give them a gift. Others believe that it’s because people of the community would go door to door asking their neighbors for soul cakes. Soul cakes were traditionally made to honor the dead.
Aaron Warner, a student in the welding program, said that he believes that Halloween came from when people would dress up to scare the evil spirits away. Brayden Craighton, another student from the welding program, stated the he believes that Halloween came from dead people coming back to life and that we dress like them to celebrate their lives.
The Celtic people were said to be how Halloween originated, and the Christians had a similar holiday and at some point, along the way the holidays merged to create Halloween. Halloween is a lot of people’s favorite holiday no matter their religion.
