The History of Halloween
Hey there! On this wonderful day, we celebrate candy? I don't really know why Halloween has changed as it had but you know there is a wonderful history behind Halloween.
P.S. My sources are at the bottom of this post if you need to look at them! :)
Halloween traces back to Samhain which was an Celtic festival. The Celts lived 2,000 years ago in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France. They celebrated the first day of the year on November 1st. They considered this day to be the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of the winter which they associated with death and cold and darkness. They believed that on the night before the new year, the thin line between the living and the dead became blurred and that it was possible on this night for the ghosts of the dead to return to Earth. They believed that along with making trouble and hurting their crops, the presence of the spirits made it easier for the Celtic priests (also called Druids) to make prophecies.
The Druids would build sacred bonfire where people burned crops and animals for the Celtic deities. These fires attracted insects and bats which are both attributes of Halloween. The Celts would wear costumes made of animal heads and skin and try to tell each other's future. They would re-lit their extinguished hearth fires with fire from the sacred bonfire to protect them from the coming winter.
All good things come to an end and by 43 A.D. the Roman Empire had conquered most of Celt territory. As the Romans never really liked there being things besides what they came up with, during the four hundred years they ruled the Celtic lands, they combined two of their festivals with Samhain. They were Feralia which was a day near the end of October that they celebrated the passing of the dead and honoring of Pomona, who was the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. As the symbol of the goddess was the apple, the melding of the festivals likely led to the tradition of bobbing for apples.
With the spread of Christianity came the end of Samhain. Pope Gregory the third expanded the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day to include the saints and moved it to November 1st instead of May 13th. In 1000 A.D., the church made November 2nd All Souls' Day which is a day to honor the dead. Rumor has it that the church was trying to replace Samhain with a more church appropriate holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated much like Samhain however people dressed as saints, angels, and devils in parades. This celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas which came from the Middle English Alholownesse translation of All Saints' Day. The night before it quickly became known as All-hallows Eve.
Halloween wasn't really celebrated in colonial New England due to the rigid Protestants. It was however pretty common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As time passed, the American version if Halloween quickly emerged. The first celebrations included public events to celebrate the harvest at which people would share ghost stories, tell each other's futures, dance and sing along with mischief-making. In the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common but Halloween was still not celebrated everywhere in the country.
When the second half of the nineteenth century rolled around, America experienced an increase in immigrants. These people especially the Irish, helped to spread Halloween all around the states. Americans began dressing up and going house to house asking for food or money. It was especially popular with young women who believed that on this day, they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband through tricks with yarn, apple parings, or mirrors.
In the late 1800s, Americans began trying to mold Halloween into a holiday that was more about the community. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Halloween parties were in style and most of the religious and creepy overtones were gone.
By the 1920s and 30s, Halloween had become a secular , community-centered holiday although vandalism plagued the communities. In the 1950's, Halloween transformed into a holiday mostly directed at the young which took the vandalism rates down. Parties moved from public venues to schools and houses and people began trick-or-treating again. It was thought that if you provided the people with a treat such as candy, they wouldn't vandalize your house or play a trick on you. Today, it is considered the country's second largest commercial holiday.
Some of today's Halloween traditions are easily explained through a quick look at the past. Trick-or-treating likely dates back to the first All Souls' Day parades in England where poor citizens would receive soul cakes from families with the promise to pray for the dead relatives of that family. The church encouraged this as it replaced the tradition of leaving wine and food for spirits. This practice which was called going-a-souling at the time was taken up by children who would visit houses which would give them ale, food, and money. The dressing up likely comes from both European and Celtic routes. Before electricity, winter was scary. Food supplies weren't high and the days were short. When Halloween rolled around, everyone would dress up when leaving their house so no ghosts would recognize them. They would also leave bowls of food outside to keep these ghosts from entering their houses.
Want to know some cool old Halloween beliefs and traditions? When it first began all the way back with the Celts, they would leave places at the dinner table, treats on their doorsteps, and lit candles along the side of the roads to help their loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. However, today we believe in some darker things such as not crossing the path of black cats. This practice most likely dates back to the Middle Ages when people believed that witches turned into cats to avoid detection. There are some Halloween traditions and beliefs that are mostly forgotten about today. Most of them seemed to have something to do with finding a young women's future husband and reassuring them that they would be married by the next Halloween. In the 18th century in Ireland, some cooks would bury a ring in her mashed potatoes in Halloween in hopes to bring true love to the diner who found it. In Scotland, eligible young women would name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and then toss them into the fire. One version said that the nut that burned to ashes was her future husband and another version says that that symbolized a love that would not last. No matter what belief or tradition we're looking at though, we all have them thanks to the Celts.
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
http://halloweenhistory.org/
P.S. My sources are at the bottom of this post if you need to look at them! :)
Halloween traces back to Samhain which was an Celtic festival. The Celts lived 2,000 years ago in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France. They celebrated the first day of the year on November 1st. They considered this day to be the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of the winter which they associated with death and cold and darkness. They believed that on the night before the new year, the thin line between the living and the dead became blurred and that it was possible on this night for the ghosts of the dead to return to Earth. They believed that along with making trouble and hurting their crops, the presence of the spirits made it easier for the Celtic priests (also called Druids) to make prophecies.
The Druids would build sacred bonfire where people burned crops and animals for the Celtic deities. These fires attracted insects and bats which are both attributes of Halloween. The Celts would wear costumes made of animal heads and skin and try to tell each other's future. They would re-lit their extinguished hearth fires with fire from the sacred bonfire to protect them from the coming winter.
All good things come to an end and by 43 A.D. the Roman Empire had conquered most of Celt territory. As the Romans never really liked there being things besides what they came up with, during the four hundred years they ruled the Celtic lands, they combined two of their festivals with Samhain. They were Feralia which was a day near the end of October that they celebrated the passing of the dead and honoring of Pomona, who was the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. As the symbol of the goddess was the apple, the melding of the festivals likely led to the tradition of bobbing for apples.
With the spread of Christianity came the end of Samhain. Pope Gregory the third expanded the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day to include the saints and moved it to November 1st instead of May 13th. In 1000 A.D., the church made November 2nd All Souls' Day which is a day to honor the dead. Rumor has it that the church was trying to replace Samhain with a more church appropriate holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated much like Samhain however people dressed as saints, angels, and devils in parades. This celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas which came from the Middle English Alholownesse translation of All Saints' Day. The night before it quickly became known as All-hallows Eve.
Halloween wasn't really celebrated in colonial New England due to the rigid Protestants. It was however pretty common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As time passed, the American version if Halloween quickly emerged. The first celebrations included public events to celebrate the harvest at which people would share ghost stories, tell each other's futures, dance and sing along with mischief-making. In the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common but Halloween was still not celebrated everywhere in the country.
When the second half of the nineteenth century rolled around, America experienced an increase in immigrants. These people especially the Irish, helped to spread Halloween all around the states. Americans began dressing up and going house to house asking for food or money. It was especially popular with young women who believed that on this day, they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband through tricks with yarn, apple parings, or mirrors.
In the late 1800s, Americans began trying to mold Halloween into a holiday that was more about the community. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Halloween parties were in style and most of the religious and creepy overtones were gone.
By the 1920s and 30s, Halloween had become a secular , community-centered holiday although vandalism plagued the communities. In the 1950's, Halloween transformed into a holiday mostly directed at the young which took the vandalism rates down. Parties moved from public venues to schools and houses and people began trick-or-treating again. It was thought that if you provided the people with a treat such as candy, they wouldn't vandalize your house or play a trick on you. Today, it is considered the country's second largest commercial holiday.
Some of today's Halloween traditions are easily explained through a quick look at the past. Trick-or-treating likely dates back to the first All Souls' Day parades in England where poor citizens would receive soul cakes from families with the promise to pray for the dead relatives of that family. The church encouraged this as it replaced the tradition of leaving wine and food for spirits. This practice which was called going-a-souling at the time was taken up by children who would visit houses which would give them ale, food, and money. The dressing up likely comes from both European and Celtic routes. Before electricity, winter was scary. Food supplies weren't high and the days were short. When Halloween rolled around, everyone would dress up when leaving their house so no ghosts would recognize them. They would also leave bowls of food outside to keep these ghosts from entering their houses.
Want to know some cool old Halloween beliefs and traditions? When it first began all the way back with the Celts, they would leave places at the dinner table, treats on their doorsteps, and lit candles along the side of the roads to help their loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. However, today we believe in some darker things such as not crossing the path of black cats. This practice most likely dates back to the Middle Ages when people believed that witches turned into cats to avoid detection. There are some Halloween traditions and beliefs that are mostly forgotten about today. Most of them seemed to have something to do with finding a young women's future husband and reassuring them that they would be married by the next Halloween. In the 18th century in Ireland, some cooks would bury a ring in her mashed potatoes in Halloween in hopes to bring true love to the diner who found it. In Scotland, eligible young women would name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and then toss them into the fire. One version said that the nut that burned to ashes was her future husband and another version says that that symbolized a love that would not last. No matter what belief or tradition we're looking at though, we all have them thanks to the Celts.
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
http://halloweenhistory.org/
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