What is the history behind Halloween?
Christian practices
Halloween , contraction of All Hallows’ Eve , a holidayobserved on October 31, the evening before All Saints’ (or All Hallows’) Day. The celebration marks the daybefore the Western Christian feast of All Saints andinitiates the season of Allhallowtide, which lasts threedays and concludes with All Souls’ Day . In much ofEurope and most of North America, observance ofHalloween is largely nonreligious. Halloween is celebrated on Monday, October 31, 2022.
The pagan festival of Samhain
Halloween had its origins in the festival of Samhain among the Celts of ancient Britain and Ireland. On theday corresponding to November 1 on contemporarycalendars, the new year was believed to begin. That datewas considered the beginning of the winter period, thedate on which the herds were returned from pasture and land tenures were renewed. During the Samhain festivalthe souls of those who had died were believed to return to visit their homes, and those whohad died during the year were believed to journey to the otherworld.
People set bonfires onhilltops for relighting their hearth fires for the winter and to frighten away evil spirits, and they sometimes wore masks and other disguises to avoid being recognized by the ghosts thought tobe present. It was in those ways that beings such as witches, hobgoblins, fairies, and demonscame to be associated with the day. The period was also thought to be favourable fordivination on matters such as marriage, health, and death. When the Romans conquered the Celts in the 1st century CE , they added their own festivals of Feralia, commemorating thepassing of the dead, and of Pomona, the goddess of the harvest.
In the 7th century CE Pope Boniface IV established All Saints’ Day, originally on May 13, andin the following century, perhaps in an effort to supplant the pagan holiday with a Christianobservance, it was moved to November 1. The evening before All Saints’ Day became a holy,or hallowed, eve and thus Halloween. By the end of the Middle Ages , the secular and thesacred days had merged. The Reformation essentially put an end to the religious holidayamong Protestants, although in Britain especially Halloween continued to be celebrated as a secular holiday.
Along with other festivities, the celebration of Halloween was largelyforbidden among the early American colonists, although in the 1800s there developed festivalsthat marked the harvest and incorporated elements of Halloween. When large numbers ofimmigrants, including the Irish, went to the United States beginning in the mid 19th century,they took their Halloween customs with them, and in the 20th century Halloween became oneof the principal U.S. holidays, particularly among children.
As a secular holiday, Halloween has come to beassociated with a number of activities. One is thepractice of pulling usually harmless pranks. Celebrantswear masks and costumes for parties and for trick-or-treating, thought to have derived from the Britishpractice of allowing the poor to beg for food, called“soul cakes.” Trick-or-treaters go from house to housewith the threat that they will pull a trick if they do not receive a treat, usually candy.
Halloween parties often include games such as bobbing for apples, perhaps derived from theRoman celebration of Pomona. Along with skeletons and black cats, the holiday hasincorporated scary beings such as ghosts , witches, and vampires into the celebration. Anothersymbol is the jack-o’-lantern , a hollowed-out pumpkin , originally a turnip , carved into ademonic face and lit with a candle inside. Since the mid-20th century the United NationsChildren’s Fund ( UNICEF ) has attempted to make the collection of money for its programs apart of Halloween.
See also the Britannica Classic article on Halloween , which appeared in the 13th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica .
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen .
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica