Did You Know Thursday: Halloween

Check out a 2020 updated version of this post on my new blog: History Nugget: Halloween Origins, Samhain

If you’ve ever seen Hocus Pocus (let’s face it, we all have) then you know that Halloween is, in fact, based upon All Hallows’ Eve. You will remember Allison schooling Max on the fact that this is the one night of the year when the curtain between the living and the dead is lifted. While this isn’t wrong Halloween’s origins are a little more interesting than that.

Did you know that Halloween actually has ancient Celtic roots?

Illustration to Robert Burns’ poem *Halloween* by J.M. Wright and Edward Scriven. Circa 1841. Wikimedia.

Halloween had ancient Celtic roots as it originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in) where Druids (ancient Celtic priests) would build sacred bonfires and people would dress up to ward off ghosts.

Samhain marked the end of summer and the beginning of the darker period of the year and was known as the night when the division between the living and dead was thinnest. This allowed the spirits to pass through to the world of the living. Families welcomed ancestors’ homes and warded off evil spirits by dressing up. According to Newgrange.com, “The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into a communal fire, household fires were extinguished and started again from the bonfire.”

**Identifier**: heroesofdawn00russ (find matches)
**Title**: Heroes of the dawn
**Year**: 1914 (1910s)
**Authors**:  Russell, Violet Elvery, Beatrice
**Subjects**:  Legends — Ireland
**Publisher**:  New York : The Macmillan Co. London (etc.) Maunsel & Co., Ltd.
**Contributing Library**:  New York Public Library. Wikimedia.

During the 8th century, a festival was incorporated into Christianity to honor the dead. It was called All Saints, or All Hallows and was celebrated on November 1st. (You are getting where that All Hallows Eve thing originated now right?) All Souls was then celebrated on November 2nd and consisted of bonfires, costumes, and parades.

This photograph depicts four young adult Lutheran Christians praying to God on the night of All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) for Christian martyrs, saints, and all the faithful departed, especially their loved ones, in preparation for All Hallows’ Day (All Saints’ Day), the following day of Hallowtide. These Swedes, as well as other believers, have also lit votive candles and hung wreaths near the crucifix by which they are solemnly praying. This photograph was taken in the Solna Municipality of Stockholm, Sweden. 2007. Photo by: Kaj Bjurman. Wikimedia.

But how did Halloween become the American holiday that we all love? As you can imagine Halloween wasn’t celebrated, or the celebrations were very limited, in Colonial America. The rigidity of the Protestant religion didn’t allow for such celebrations or festivities. It was more commonly celebrated in the less religiously strict Southern colonies. The European traditions melded with the Native American traditions to produce what we now know as Halloween.

Colonial Halloween was a bit different then what we do today but the harvest celebrations consisted of ghosts stories, dancing and fortune telling. The Irish Potato famine occurred during the second half of the 19th century and as you can imagine with the flood of Irish immigrants came the stronghold of their traditions. This greatly helped to popularize Halloween in the United States.

According to History.com, “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.” By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a community centered holiday but problems with vandalism began to occur. By the time the 1950s rolled around the vandalism problem was under control and Halloween had become mainly a celebration for children. The tradition of trick or treating was revived and Halloween as we know it began.

Today Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday coming in second only to Christmas. In 2018 people spent roughly $9 billion (yep, that’s billion with a B) on Halloween, which is insane but it’s so easy to see how Halloween spending can get out of control. Between costumes, candy, and decorations… it’s so easy!

There has been some recent debate over moving the date of Halloween since it’s not exactly “tied” to October 31st according to most people. While I am not a parent I can understand the concern when Halloween falls in the middle of the week. However, after reading this little History Nugget, I hope that you can consider that Halloween DOES have a history and is tied to October 31.