The autumn of the year is my favorite season.  I love the changing foliage, the chilled air and most of all, Halloween.  I guess I never outgrew the fun associated with a holiday where children and adults alike, don bizarre costumes and indulge in a little trick or treating.

So many of us enjoy Halloween but never really give thought to how this spooky holiday originated.   With a little research Halloween means much more than just dressing up and scaring people.  It tells the interesting story of a people and their religious beliefs.

Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).  The Celts, who lived more than 2,000 years ago in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.  This day marked the end of the summer, the harvest, and the beginning of the winter, a time of year that was often associated with death.  On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, believing the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.  They also believed that the spirits caused many problems and also damaged important crops.

The Celtic priests or Druids thought that during this period they could make accurate predictions about the future.  The ability to predict future events was an important Celtic belief during the long, cold, winter months.

In order to celebrate this holiday, Druids built bonfires and sacrificed animals to the Celtic deities.  The Celts wore elaborate costumes, usually animal heads and skins.  They also tried to tell each other’s fortunes, and make predictions related to their future.

In A.D. 43, the Romans ruled the majority of Celtic territory.  For more than four hundred years, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the Celtic celebration of Samhain.  The Romans celebrated Feralia, a day in late October that they dedicated to the passing of the dead.  The other holiday was dedicated to Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees.  The symbol of Pomona was the apple, and this explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

In the seventh century, When Christianity finally spread to the Celtic Islands, November 1, was proclaimed as All Saints Day.  This was a day to honor all the catholic saints and martyrs.  This celebration was also called, All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.  Later the catholic church would deem November 2, as All Soul’s Day, a day to honor the dead.

All Soul’s Day, was then celebrated with bonfires, parades, and people dressing up in costumes portraying saints, angels, and the devil.  The culmination of all three holidays,  the eve of All Saint’s, All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s were called Hallowmas.  When immigrants from various parts of Europe came to America, they brought their varied Hallowmas customs with them.  Today, we know this holiday as simply, “Halloween.”

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 7:03 am.