October 31st marks Halloween, the time of year when people everywhere dress up, collect candy, and enjoy a night of frights. But have you ever wondered where this all started from? Where did dressing up come from, and since when have we always associated skeletons and witches, and other creatures with this holiday? To acknowledge how Halloween became what it is today, let us turn the pages back to more than 2,000 years ago.
The origins of Halloween start from the ‘Celtic festival of Samhain’, this festival was celebrated on October 31st and November 1st, which meant it marked the end of summer. During the festival, there would be bonfires set up and people known as the Celts would wear costumes to ward off evil and or bad spirits. Once Christianity began to spread, All Saints Day was established, and eventually the name changed to All Hallows Eve, which then eventually came to be known as Halloween in modern society! Back in the day, they used to carve on turnips, potatoes, but later on, society started to carve pumpkins, and they were referred to as ‘jack o’ lanterns’. And to this day, this fall tradition is carried on, and every year, people just get more and more creative with the designs. And to this day, the most popular design carved on a pumpkin is a ‘smiling face’.
Furthermore, more traditions continued, but the motives surely changed. Remember, as a kid, going up to people’s doors and saying the classic line “trick or treat,” and receiving a treat, well, most of the time… This wasn’t always the case; instead of candy, people would often go door-to-door offering prayers to the dead, and in exchange, they would receive food. During this time, the food they were given could be from vegetables to even small pastries. In addition to this, as time and time went on, lots more was added to what we do in today’s modern society for Halloween and even the symbols such as a black cat, witches, skeletons… The symbols represent the mysterious supernatural side of the holiday. And so on that note of getting candy, dressing up, and possibly going to parties, Happy Halloween!
