Origins of Halloween

This article is the first in a series of articles relating to October 31^st, or the holiday that we now know as Halloween.  The articles will cover a wide range of Halloween related topics; such as the origin of Halloween, Halloween traditions, Halloween on a budget, party tips, costumes, and Halloween recipes.  This article will focus specifically on the ancient origins of Halloween and the merging of secular Celtic and Roman celebrations with each other and church sanctioned celebrations.

The origins of Halloween start some 2000 years ago with the Celts.  Celts lived in the era that is now Ireland, the UK, and northern France.  Their November 1 new year marked the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of long cold winter and death.  They believed that on the day before the new year, October 31^st, the line between life and death was blurred and ghost returned to the earth to walk among the living.  As a result of this blur it was believed that it was easier to make predictions for the future.

Celtic priest called Druids held a festival on October 31^st called Samhain.  During this festival they had huge bonfires where crop and animal sacrifices were made.  The priest wore costumes usually made of animal heads and skins and attempted to tell each others fortunes.  Predicting the future was very important, because of the hard winters they faced that were riddled with sickness and death.  The Samhain festival is the origin of the Halloween traditions of bonfires, costumes, and fortune telling.

Approximately 43 AD the Romans conquered the Celtic territory and over their four hundred years of rule two traditional Roman festivals influenced and merged with the Samhain festival.  These festivals were Feralia, the late October Roman festival to remember the dead and the festival for Pomona the Roman goddess of fruit and trees.  Pomona’s symbol was the apple and this is where the modern tradition of bobbing for apples at Halloween is thought to have originated.  With these additions you can see how many modern Halloween traditions came together.

By the seventh century Christianity had spread to the area.  In what is widely believed to be the churches effort to replace the secular Celtic festival of the dead with a related church sanctioned holiday; Pope Boniface created All Saints Day.  All Saints Day which was originally called All Hallows or All Hallowmas. It took place on November 1 and was a time to honor saints and martyrs.  Samhain, the day before, became known as All Hallows Eve.  Around the eleventh century the church made November 2^nd All Souls Day, which honored the dead.  It was very similar to Samhain; they had bonfires, parades, and dressed in costumes as saints, angels, and devils.  The three celebrations were referred to as Hallowmas.

The merging of Samhain with Roman festivals, and the creation of All Saints Day, and later All Souls Day; come together to form modern Halloween traditions that we enjoy today.