A vintage collage of a carved pumpkin, a black cat, a ghost costume, and old-fashioned trick-or-treaters, set against a dark, starry autumn night.
A vintage collage of a carved pumpkin, a black cat, a ghost costume, and old-fashioned trick-or-treaters, set against a dark, starry autumn night.

The History and Traditions of Halloween

Origins and Evolution

Halloween, celebrated annually on October 31st, has ancient roots dating back over 2,000 years to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced "sow-in"). The Celts, who lived in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1st, marking the end of summer and the harvest season and the beginning of the dark, cold winter.

From Samhain to All Hallows' Eve

The Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On October 31st, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Druids built huge sacred bonfires where people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to Celtic deities.

When the Roman Empire conquered Celtic territories by 43 A.D., two Roman festivals were combined with Samhain: Feralia, a day in late October when Romans commemorated the passing of the dead, and a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which may explain the tradition of bobbing for apples practiced today.

In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as All Saints' Day, incorporating some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before became known as All Hallows' Eve, and later Halloween.

Migration to America

Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England due to the rigid Protestant belief systems there. It was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As different European ethnic groups and American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge.

The first celebrations included "play parties," public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance, and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making.

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, especially the millions of Irish fleeing the Irish Potato Famine, who helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally.

Modern Traditions

Trick-or-Treating

The American tradition of "trick-or-treating" likely dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During these festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and people were afraid of the dark. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits.

Jack-o'-Lanterns

The tradition of carving jack-o'-lanterns originated in Ireland, where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on Samhain. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed "Stingy Jack." According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. When the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree's bark so that the Devil couldn't come down until he promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.

When Jack died, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the tricks Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with it ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern."

In Ireland and Scotland, people began making their own versions of Jack's lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them in windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets were used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack-o'-lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack-o'-lanterns.

Halloween Today

Today, Halloween has evolved into a community-centered holiday characterized by child-friendly activities. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spend billions of dollars annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday after Christmas.

Modern celebrations typically include:

Halloween has also become increasingly popular in countries beyond its Celtic and American roots, with celebrations now occurring in various forms throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The holiday continues to evolve, blending ancient traditions with modern customs while maintaining its unique position as a celebration that embraces both the spooky and the sweet.

The prompt for this was: Halloween

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