On October 31st the world celebrates the spookiest holiday of each year– Halloween! Nowadays people celebrate by dressing up in costumes and roaming the streets, going door to door, and saying the famous words, “Trick or Treat!” When the trick-or-treaters ask their question they are most commonly met with candy in their bags. Sometimes these bags are actually plastic jack-o’-lanterns with a handle in them; a fashionable spooky accessory. Then those happy little trick-or-treaters go home to count and trade their candy with their gaggle of friends, and perhaps later on they’ll go to a Halloween Bash and do the Monster Mash.
However, this is not how the holiday used to be celebrated. In fact, the roots of Halloween trace back all the way to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. This festival was a religious celebration for pagans meant to welcome the end of the summer harvest. The ancient people of the region (Scotland, Ireland, and Wales) would light bonfires to protect their crops from evil spirits, and they would do so dressed in scary costumes to protect themselves and further spook the spirits.
This tradition was later incorporated in All Saints Day founded by Pope Gregory III in the eighth century. Or rather, the night before All Saints Day, which was known as All Hallows Eve. The reason for this was that on All Saints Day, they worried that spirits would come back, and wanted to incorporate the protection of their crops into the holiday time. From this came the Christianization of the Samhain custom, and from that came much change over time, such as the iconic name change from All Hallows Eve to Halloween.
Of course, there are still so many other aspects of the Halloween holiday that have Celtic origin as well. One such thing is carving jack-o’-lanterns; which started in Ireland, except they used turnips instead of pumpkins! This started with the story of Stingy Jack, who trapped the Devil and only let him go on the condition that Jack would never go to Hell. However, when Jack passed away, Heaven did not accept his soul, so he was condemned to wander the Earth as a ghost forever. Due to this, the Devil gave Jack a burning lump of coal in a carved-out turnip to light his way. That is why the locals carved scary faces onto turnips– to frighten away evil spirits. As to why it changed to a pumpkin; when the tradition reached America, people wanted a larger and easier crop to carve, and as it is a seasonal food, they chose pumpkins.
So every time you think of the spookiest time of year, remember its Celtic roots!
