The Story of Halloween and its traditions
Halloween is known for being an intriguing night where children and several adults dress up with costumes and ask for candies while singing the good old “Trick or Treat” song. But, have you ever wondered why and how this tradition celebrated on October thirty first began? If not, today I am going to briefly explain the interesting story behind it , and how its traditions evolved to make today’s conception of Halloween.
First, let's dive into the origin of Halloween. A long time ago there was a celtic festival called “Samhain” that was celebrated to mark the end of the summer and the harvest period, welcoming winter instead. The Celts believed that on October 31st the boundary between the living world and the world of death vanished, and that the spirits of death would come to visit their relatives in the mortal world. Consequently, they lit fires that supposedly would scare the spirits. After the arrival of Christianity in Europe in the fifth century, it brought many traditions and celebrations along with it, one of them was named “All Hallows day”. Its purpose was to remember those who had died in the name of their beliefs. It was originally celebrated on May 13th; however, the pope in the eighth century changed it to the 1st of November as an attempt to dissolve the “Samhain” and transform it into an “approved” celebration by the church. For this reason, the two traditions gradually assembled, making a new one, being celebrated in the evening of what was “Samhain”. It became known as “All-Hallows-even”, later known as “Hallow Eve '' until it evolved to how it is known today: “Halloween”.
Now that we know about the origins of Halloween and why it is named like that, let's dive into the origins and the traditions of this celebration. The reasons why people now ask for candies while singing “Trick or Treat”, date back to the fourth century when on November the 2nd, “All Souls day” was celebrated. On this day Christians and beggars went from house to house asking for “soul cakes”, in exchange they would pray for the souls of their dead relatives. This tradition also blended with Halloween and became a special characteristic of it. Another essential tradition from Halloween is pumpkin carving. Despite the factthat it is an American introduction from recent centuries, people in Europe have carved vegetables for a long time. It all began with a tale in which a guy named Jack is cursed to travel the earth carrying only a hollow turnip with a burning coal inside as a punishment for tricking the devil. For this reason people carved scary faces on vegetables that became known as “Jack-o-lanterns”, to scare off evil spirits. This later arrived in America and became pumpkin carving as it is known today. Lastly but mostly importantly is why people put on costumes for Halloween. Its origin takes place in Scotland and Ireland where there was a tradition of “guising”, dressing with masks and dressed to try to fool or hide from evil spirits.
In short, we can conclude that today's conceptions of Halloween are the result of the mixture of many traditions throughout many years. Many cultures have influenced it, even in the present, especially the American and occidental culture. We can also say its roots are made of responses to religious beliefs and superstitions of death and evil. Now you know the origin of Halloween and why people do certain things such as asking for candies during “Trick and Treat” or dressing up with costumes.
https://www.londonschool.com/blog/history-halloween/
https://www.londonacademyonline.com/all-hallows-eve-hallow-halloween/