History of Halloween

By: Kira Crespo '13 and Catherine Sumner '13

The history of Halloween, or “All Hallows Eve”, goes back more than two thousand years. The earliest celebration of Halloween was among the Celtics, a people who worshiped the true beauty of nature. They worshiped a Sun God who they believed they could not live without, and also Samhain (Sah-ween), the lord of death and winter. The Celtics lived in what is now known as Great Britain and France.

The Celtics believed that on the 31^st of October, Samhain would summon of all of the dead souls of the underworld, and the souls would take on the shape of animal, and that all of the creatures created from the souls of the dead wandered the earth on that night.

            The priests of the Celtic people, known as the Druids, would go to the hilltops and build fires, which they believed strengthened the Sun God. They believed the fires to be sacred, and they also believed that these flames would give the Sun God enough power to overcome the terrible Samhain. 

These ceremonies continued to be performed by the Celtics until they were conquered by the Roman Catholics. They brought with them their own customs. They established All Hollows Day, which took place on November 1^st. This was a day where all of the saints that did not have their own holiday declared that day theirs. The Roman Catholics hoped that by creating this holiday, they would be rid of all of the “pagan” beliefs of Samhain and the other ceremonies performed on October 31^st. But, they were wrong.

When witchcraft came around, October 31^st was a day known as Night of the Witches. It was a night believed to be the night where the devil and all of his followers came out and made a mockery of All Hollows Day. When these ceremonies and celebrations continued, October 31^st then came to be known as All Hallows Eve, a night for superstitious beliefs and mystery. Along the years, the name was shortened down to just Halloween.

Old England had its own traditions for the holiday as well. “Soul cakes were made for the wandering and people went “a’ soulin” for them. Halloween was considered a time of magic, and with it supernatural beliefs. One such belief was that if someone walked backwards down the basement stairs with a mirror in hand, that the face of their next lover would appear in the mirror.

            It was the Irish that had brought the Jack O’ Lantern to America. The legend says that there was a man named Jack, who was known for being a stingy drunkard. Jack tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree and prevented him from coming down by cutting a cross into the tree. Jack made the Devil promise that he would never come for his soul, no matter what deeds he committed. The Devil promised that he would not come after Jack’s soul. But this promise did not provide an avoidance of Jack’s death. Heaven would not let Jack step through the gates, because he was, in fact, a stingy drunkard. So, Jack went to the only one he could turn to. He asked the Devil to take him in. But, the Devil kept to his word, and turned Jack away.

The Devil gave Jack a lighted coal from Hell and Jack put it inside the turnip he had been carrying at the time. To this day, people say they that in the middle of the night on Halloween, they can see Jack wandering the Earth, searching for his final resting place. Irish children would carve open turnips and potatoes and place candles inside of them for Halloween. When the Irish came to America, they found that pumpkins worked much better, and so this “American” tradition of Halloween came to be.

Today, Halloween has become more similar to Mardi Gras than to its original form. It is more of an adult masquerade with every form of costume imaginable walking down the streets. Humans take on the other world of ghouls, souls, and the dead. With everything possible and fears running high, we take on the dread forces that rule the other world.

So when Halloween rolls around this year, keep your eyes open for the ancient and present underworld forces, and a fright may be just around the corner.