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History of Halloween

By Eliza Bean

Edited by Ella Byrne-Cabot

Eliza Bean gives a history of the upcoming holiday, Halloween.

The beloved Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, originated over 2,000 years ago in the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced SOW-in), an Irish word meaning “end of summer”. Samhain began the evening of October 31 and ended the next night. It celebrated both death and rebirth, the end of summer and the beginning of the new year. During this festival, the world of the gods was believed to be made visible to humankind, leading to tricks and trouble. Not much unlike Halloween in some people's eyes, Samhain was a time of fear.

In the 7th century CE, All Saints’ Day was established by Pope Boniface IV. All Saints’ Day is a celebration of all saints, known and unknown. All Saints Day was originally celebrated on May 13th, but the Catholic Church moved it to November 1st in a potential effort to replace the pagan holiday of Samhain. The Catholic Church designated All Saints’ Day as a holy, or “hallowed” eve, and by the end of the Middle Ages, the two days had merged.

A cartoon of children trick-or-treating.

In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation ended the holy holiday in most of Europe, but Halloween continued on as a holiday in Britain. Like many festivities Halloween was forbidden among the early American colonists. When Irish immigrants came to America in the 19th century they brought many of their own Halloween customs with them, including their costumes, and by the 20th century Halloween had become a staple of American culture.

Trick or treating comes from the English practice of the poor visiting the wealthy and asking for food in exchange for prayers for the homeowners' deceased relatives. This was known as "souling", and was eventually adopted by children who would go door to door asking for gifts.

A turnip Jack o' Lantern

The practice of carving pumpkins comes from the Irish myth “Stingy Jack”, a man who repeatedly tricked the Devil into not claiming his soul, and in the act cursed himself to not be allowed into heaven or hell. Because of this he was sent into the night with nothing but a piece of burning coal to light his way. He put his coal into a carved turnip, creating a lantern, and the name “Jack of the Lantern”, which was shortened to “Jack o’ Lantern”. In order to scare off Jack, the Irish and Scottish would carve demon faces on turnips and potatoes, while the English used beets. Immigrants brought this tradition to the U.S, but used the native fruit pumpkins instead.

While this may seem silly in modern-day, no one can prove that pumpkins don't scare off Jack. I haven’t seen him, have you?

Works CitedHistory.com Editors. “How Trick-or-Treating Became a Halloween Tradition.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 3 Oct. 2019, www.history.com/news/halloween-trick-or-treating-origins. History.com Editors. “How Jack O'Lanterns Originated in Irish Myth.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 25 Oct. 2019, www.history.com/news/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins. “Halloween.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Oct. 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/Halloween. Lang, Cady. “What Is Samhain? Origin of Halloween Rooted in Pagan Holiday.” Time, Time, 30 Oct. 2018, time.com/5434659/halloween-pagan-origins-in-samhain/.

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