History of Halloween

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Introduction

Halloween, holiday observed on the evening of October 31 in most areas of North America and in some areas of Western Europe. The holiday is symbolically associated with death and the supernatural. Halloween falls on the eve of All Saints’ Day, also known as Allhallows or Hallowmas, a holy day in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. Originally a pagan festival of the dead, All Saints’ Day was established by the Catholic Church in the 9th century to honor Christian saints. All Souls’ Day, a holy day established by the Catholic Church in the 10th century, is also closely linked to Halloween. All Souls’ Day, on November 2, is observed to help purify the spirits of the dead.

Contemporary Customs

Most Halloween festivities are based on folk beliefs concerning supernatural forces and spirits of the dead. Halloween decorations typically feature imagery associated with supernatural beings such as witches, werewolves, vampires, and ghosts. Images thought to symbolize bad omens—such as black cats, bats, and spiders—are also commonly featured in Halloween decorations.

The most celebrated Halloween decoration is the jack-o’-lantern, traditionally a hollowed-out pumpkin carved to resemble a grotesque face and illuminated by a candle placed inside. The jack-o’-lantern derives its name from a character in British folktales. According to these tales, the soul of a deceased person named Jack O’Lantern was barred from both heaven and hell and was condemned to wander the earth with his lantern. Orange and black, colors associated with pumpkins and darkness respectively, figure prominently in most Halloween decorations.

Dressing in costume is one of the most popular Halloween customs, especially among children. Traditional costumes usually represent witches, ghosts, and other supernatural beings. However, costumes inspired by contemporary popular culture, such as politicians or movie characters, have become increasingly common in recent years. Adults often favor costumes with satirical or humorous overtones.

Trick-or-treating is another Halloween tradition, in which costumed children go from house to house soliciting candy or other treats from their neighbors. According to this custom, children greet each homeowner with the cry “Trick or Treat,” suggesting that some sort of prank will be played unless treats are provided. Formerly, trick-or-treaters vandalized the house if no treats were produced or if the treats met with their disapproval. Since the early 20th century, however, the threat of tricks has been largely ceremonial. Beginning in the 1970s, the practice of trick-or-treating went into a sharp decline after unsubstantiated rumors spread about homeowners distributing poisoned Halloween candy to children. Many parents also became concerned about their children wandering through the neighborhood after dark. Today, many parents accompany children when they go trick-or-treating.

In some areas of the country, costume parties have replaced trick-or-treating as the favored form of Halloween entertainment. Hosts of these parties often hold contests to select the best costume among the guests. Traditional Halloween diversions have also enjoyed renewed popularity as party activities. For example, many Halloween parties feature contests of bobbing for apples, a centuries-old game in which contestants try to retrieve apples floating in a tub of water using only their mouth. While children’s Halloween parties are generally held in private homes, many bars and nightclubs sponsor modified versions of such festivities for adults.

Origins

Many of the ancient peoples of Europe marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter by celebrating a holiday in late autumn. The most important of these holidays to influence later Halloween customs was Samhain, a holiday observed by the ancient Celts, a tribal people who inhabited most of Western and Central Europe in the first millennium bc. Among the Celts, Samhain marked the end of one year and the beginning of the next. It was one of four Celtic holidays linked to important transitions in the annual cycle of seasons.

Samhain began at sundown on October 31 and extended into the following day. According to the Celtic pagan religion, known as Druidism, the spirits of those who had died in the preceding year roamed the earth on Samhain evening. The Celts sought to ward off these spirits with offerings of food and drink. The Celts also built bonfires at sacred hilltop sites and performed rituals, often involving human and animal sacrifices, to honor Druid deities.

By the end of the 1st century ad, the Roman Empire had conquered most of the Celtic lands (see Rome, History of). In the process of incorporating the Celts into their empire, the Romans adapted and absorbed some Celtic traditions as part of their own pagan and Catholic religious observances. In Britain, Romans blended local Samhain customs with their own pagan harvest festival honoring Pomona, goddess of fruit trees. Some scholars have suggested that the game of bobbing for apples derives from this Roman association of the holiday with fruit.

Pure Celtic influences lingered longer on the western fringes of Europe, especially in areas that were never brought firmly under Roman control, such as Ireland, Scotland, and the Brittany region of northwestern France. In these areas, Samhain was abandoned only when the local people converted to Christianity during the early Middle Ages, a period that lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. The Roman Catholic Church often incorporated modified versions of older religious traditions in order to win converts. For example, Pope Gregory IV sought to replace Samhain with All Saints’ Day in 835. All Souls’ Day, closer in spirit to Samhain and modern Halloween, was first instituted at a French monastery in 998 and quickly spread throughout Europe. Folk observances linked to these Christian holidays, including Halloween, thus preserved many of the ancient Celtic customs associated with Samhain.

Halloween traditions thought to be incompatible with Christianity often became linked with Christian folk beliefs about evil spirits. Although such superstitions varied a great deal from place to place, many of the supernatural beings now associated with Halloween became fixed in the popular imagination during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (14th to 17th century). The jack-o’-lantern, originally carved from a large turnip rather than a pumpkin, originated in medieval Scotland. Various methods of predicting the future, especially concerning matters of romance and marriage, were also prominent features of Halloween throughout the British Isles.

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, Europe was seized by a hysterical fear of witches, leading to the persecution of thousands of innocent women. Witches were thought to ride flying brooms and to assume the form of black cats. These images of witches soon joined other European superstitions as symbols of Halloween.

In the United States

Attitudes toward Halloween varied widely among the various European groups that settled in North America. New England was initially settled by English Puritans, members of a strict Protestant sect that rejected Halloween as a Catholic and pagan holiday (see Puritanism). However, other British colonists successfully transplanted Halloween traditions in southern colonies such as Virginia and Maryland. Irish immigrants helped popularize Halloween traditions throughout the United States in the mid-19th century. As belief in many of the old superstitions waned during the late 19th century, Halloween was increasingly regarded as a children’s holiday.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, young people often observed Halloween by perpetrating minor acts of vandalism, such as overturning sheds or breaking windows. Beginning in the 1930s, Halloween mischief gradually transformed into the modern ritual of trick-or-treating. Eventually, Halloween treats were plentiful while tricks became rare. Nonetheless, the tradition of Halloween pranks still survives. In some areas, October 30 (one day before Halloween) is called Mischief Night, and vandalism often reaches dangerous levels. In Detroit, Michigan, Mischief Night—known there as Devil’s Night—provided the occasion for waves of arson that sometimes destroyed whole city blocks during the 1970s and 1980s.

Since the 1970s, Halloween celebrations have become increasingly popular among adults. The Halloween parade in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City features elaborate satirical costumes and drunken revelry. Especially popular among the local gay population, the Greenwich Village parade serves as a model for many other adult Halloween celebrations around the country. Similarly boisterous public Halloween festivities are celebrated in San Francisco, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Key West, Florida.

All Saints’ Day

All Saints’ Day, also Allhallows or Hallowmas, festival celebrated on November 1 in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, and by the Orthodox churches on the first Sunday after Pentecost, in honor of God and all his saints, known and unknown. It became established as a church festival early in the 7th century when the Pantheon in Rome was consecrated as the Church of the Blessed Virgin and All Martyrs. Pope Gregory IV gave the custom official authorization in 835. November 1 may have been chosen because it was the day of one of the four great festivals of the pagan nations of the north, and it was church policy to supplant pagan with Christian observances.

Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead, annual celebration to honor the spirits of the dead, observed primarily in Mexico and other Latin American countries in early November. The exact dates of the celebration vary from region to region. In many communities, the Day of the Dead—known in Spanish as El Día de los Muertos—is observed on November 1 and 2 and coincides with the Christian celebrations of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. All Saints’ Day, observed on November 1, honors the Christian saints, and All Souls’ Day, observed on November 2, is a holiday of the Roman Catholic Church to commemorate the deceased so they might “rest in peace.” According to popular belief, on the Day of the Dead the spirits of the dead return to commune with the living. Families leave offerings for these spirits, attend fiestas (festivals) dressed in costumes, and clean or decorate the graves of deceased family members.

The Day of the Dead is similar in many respects to Halloween, a holiday that also commemorates the spirits of the dead. Halloween originated in Europe and is now celebrated on October 31 in the United States. Some Day of the Dead ceremonies are sanctioned and presided over by representatives of the Catholic Church. Many aspects of Day of the Dead celebrations reflect Native American traditions that predate the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the early 1500s. Observances vary from region to region, and often between different social groups within the same community. Some communities hold multiple Day of the Dead celebrations during the last week of October and the first week of November. In these elaborate observances, specific days are usually set aside for various classes of spirits, such as those of people who died violently or who died within the last year.

Most Day of the Dead activities take place in the home. Paths of flower petals and burning incense lead spirits to the houses of their living relatives. Many families construct elaborate ofrendas (offerings), tables heaped with gifts of food and drink for the spirits of the dead. Special loaves of bread such as pan de los muertos, or bread of the dead, are baked for the holiday and are often included in offerings to the spirits. Other food offerings are selected with the spirit of a specific individual in mind, including dishes the deceased person enjoyed in life. The ofrenda is decorated with flowers, especially an orange or yellow marigold known as cempasúchil (flower of the dead) and the mano de león (lion’s paw). Also, arches of palm leaves and banners of tissue paper cut into intricate designs frequently hang above the ofrenda table.

After the spirits have been given an opportunity to partake of the offerings, the celebrants eat the food. Leftover food is placed on the graves of dead relatives or distributed to living relatives and other members of the community. According to custom, ill fortune, such as sickness or death, may befall those who do not make offerings.

In some areas, especially in Mexico City, many celebrants construct papier-mậché skeletons and skulls. These are often arranged in tableaus that tell a story, sometimes a social or political satire. Skulls made from sugar are also common. In urban areas, ofrenda competitions and Day of the Dead dances, or discos, have become increasingly common.

Day of the Dead Ofrendas
	Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico often involve visits to cemeteries, where families leave ofrendas (offerings) for deceased loved ones. The celebrants shown here burn candles and incense to summon the spirits of the dead. They also leave ofrendas of orange and yellow flowers called cempasúchils (also known as “flowers of the dead“).
Skeleton Costume
	On the Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead, spirits of the dead are believed to return to commune with the living. Many Mexican families make ofrendas (offerings) to the dead in the form of special foods or flowers. Many also construct elaborate masks and skeletons, such as the one shown here, which are placed on alters or worn in ceremonies.

More Halloween

Halloween Witch

Witches have had a long history with Halloween. Legends tell of witches gathering twice a year when the seasons changed, on April 30 - the eve of May Day and the other was on the eve of October 31 - All Hallow's Eve.

The witches would gather on these nights, arriving on broomsticks, to celebrate a party hosted by the devil. Superstitions told of witches casting spells on unsuspecting people, transform themselves into different forms and causing other magical mischief.

It was said that to meet a witch you had to put your clothes on wrong side out and you had to walk backwards on Halloween night. Then at midnight you would see a witch.

When the early settlers came to America, they brought along their belief in witches. In American the legends of witches spread and mixed with the beliefs of others, the Native Americans - who also believed in witches, and then later with the black magic beliefs of the African slaves.

The black cat has long been associated with witches. Many superstitions have evolved about cats. It was believed that witches could change into cats. Some people also believed that cats were the spirits of the dead.

One of the best known superstitions is that of the black cat. If a black cat was to cross your path you would have to turn around and go back because many people believe if you continued bad luck would strike you.

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