It’s that time of the year again.\u00a0 It’s time for pumpkin carving, trick or treating, costumes, and family fun.\u00a0 But, why do we celebrate Halloween?\u00a0 Where did this tradition start?<\/p>\n
The holiday’s roots began around 2,000 years ago with the Celtic festival called Samhain.\u00a0 The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1.\u00a0 They believed that the day before the new year, on October 31, the veil between the living and the dead weakened and ghosts could cross over to walk the earth.\u00a0 This day became known as All Hallows Eve.<\/p>\n
On All Hallows Eve, the Celts would leave food and wine on their doorsteps to keep the spirits at bay.\u00a0 If they left the house, they would wear masks.\u00a0 They felt the masks helped them to blend in with the dead.\u00a0 The Celts also believed that the presence of ghosts made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future.\u00a0 With the long, dark, and cold winter ahead, this was important for the Celts.<\/p>\n
To celebrate All Hallows Eve, Druids would build bonfires, dress in costumes, and attempt to tell each other’s future.\u00a0 Following the bonfire, they would light their fireplace, using embers from the bonfire, to protect them through the long, hard winter.<\/p>\n
After the Celtics were conquered by the Romans, in 43 A.D., two Roman festivals were combined with the Celtic celebration of Samhain.\u00a0 The celebration of Feralia, which was a festival to celebrate the passing of the dead; and the day to honor Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees, were both added to the Celtic celebration of Samhain. It is believed that today’s tradition of bobbing for apples came from the Roman day to honor Pomona.<\/p>\n
In 1000 A.D., after the spread of Christianity to Celtic lands, the church would declare November 2, as All Souls Day, a day to honor the dead.\u00a0 All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain.\u00a0 The church would host big bonfires, have parades, and dress up in costumes of angels, saints, and devils.\u00a0 The night before this celebration was still called All Hallows Eve, and then eventually, Halloween.<\/p>\n
Once in America, the colonists’ beliefs mixed with that of different European ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians.\u00a0 This resulted in an American version of Halloween; which included, parties, events to celebrate the harvest, stories of the dead, fortune-telling, dancing, and singing.<\/p>\n
In the late nineteenth century, when America began to fill with immigrants from all over the world, the celebration of Halloween became popular nationwide.\u00a0 Americans wore costumes and went door to door asking for food and money.\u00a0 A tradition that later evolved in to today’s trick or treating.<\/p>\n
After the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both adults and children, with food, games, and festive costumes, became the primary way to celebrate the holiday.\u00a0 Today’s Halloween festivities are a mixture of Celtic, Roman, and early American All Hallows Eve traditions that have evolved into a booming business, bringing in an estimated $6 billion a year.\u00a0 Halloween is the country’s second largest commercial holiday, after Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s that time of the year again.\u00a0 It’s time for pumpkin carving, trick or treating, costumes, and family fun.\u00a0 But, why do we celebrate Halloween?\u00a0 Where did this tradition start? The holiday’s roots began around 2,000 years ago with the … Continue reading