Ancient Origins of Halloween: Samhain

Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and
Halloween 2021 will occur on Sunday, October 31. The tradition

originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain , when people
would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the
eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to
honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the
traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows
Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of
activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive
gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats.
READ MORE: Halloween Through the Centuries: A Timeline
Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival
of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts , who lived 2,000 years
ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and
northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.
This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning
of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with
human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the
boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became
blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it
was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that

the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or
Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people
entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were
an important source of comfort during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where

the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the
Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes,
typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell
each other’s fortunes.
When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they
had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help
protect them during the coming winter.
Did you know? One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for
Halloween.
By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic

territory. In the course of the 400 years that they ruled the Celtic lands,
two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic
celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans
traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a
day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The
symbol of Pomona is the apple, and the incorporation of this
celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of bobbing for
apples that is practiced today on Halloween .
READ MORE: Halloween Costumes That Disguised, Spooked and

Thrilled Through the Ages
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All Saints' Day

On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in
Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All
Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III
later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs,
and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.
By the 9th century, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic
lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted
older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church made November 2 All Souls’
Day, a day to honor the dead. It’s widely believed today that the church
was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related,
church-sanctioned holiday.
All Souls’ Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires,
parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils . The
All Saints’ Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas
(from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the
night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion,
began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
READ MORE: How the Early Catholic Church Christianized

Halloween
Halloween Comes to America

The celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New
England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there.
Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern
colonies.
As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups and the
American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween
began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” which
were public events held to celebrate the harvest. Neighbors would
share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing.
Did you know? More people are buying costumes for their pets. Americans spent $490 million
on costumes for their pets in 2019—more than double what they spent in 2010.
Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories

and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the 19th century,
annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet
celebrated everywhere in the country.
In the second half of the 19th century, America was flooded with new
immigrants . These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish
fleeing the Irish Potato Famine , helped to popularize the celebration of
Halloween nationally.
READ MORE: Monsters in the White House: The Best Presidential
Halloween Costumes
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History of Trick-or-Treating
Borrowing from European traditions, Americans began to dress up in
costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice
that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women
believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance
of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or
mirrors.
READ MORE: How Trick-or-Treating Became a Halloween Tradition

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into
a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than
about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft . At the turn of the century,
Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most
common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of
the season and festive costumes.
Scroll to Continue
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Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to

take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween
celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its
superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth
century.

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Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and

Halloween 2021 will occur on Sunday, October 31. The tradition

READ MORE: Halloween Through the Centuries: A Timeline

Ancient Origins of Halloween

In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where

By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic

READ MORE: Halloween Costumes That Disguised, Spooked and

All Saints' Day

READ MORE: How the Early Catholic Church Christianized

Halloween Comes to America

Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories

READ MORE: How Trick-or-Treating Became a Halloween Tradition

Recommended for you

Hitler’s Teeth Reveal Nazi Dictator’s Cause of Death

Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to

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