Halloween's origins date back over 2000 years to the ancient Celtic harvest festival of Samhain, also known as the Celtic New Year. It was the end of the harvest, time to bring in all that would sustain you and your family through the long dark winter. This was a very uneasy time in those days. What if the crops fail? What if the livestock fall ill and die? As if there wasn't enough going on with bringing in the harvest and livestock it was also a time when spirits could cross over and wander the plane of the living. The beloved souls of the departed visited their families on this night along with some more malevolent characters. The measures that villagers took to ward off these nastier spirits gave root to our modern day Halloween rituals such as carving jack-o-lanterns and dressing up in costumes and building bonfires that attracted a familiar icon - the bat.
The Christian holiday All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows or Hallowmas, was celebrated on November 1st. For Christians this is a time for honoring the saints and praying for the recently departed who had yet to reach Heaven. Traveling door to door collecting food treats in exchange for prayers may be one origin of trick or treating today. Incidentally, this is where the name Halloween comes from.
Halloween was brought to America by the Irish and Scots in the early 19th century. These immigrants brought their old world customs with a new world spin. Turnips were replaced by pumpkins for carving the lanterns...as in Jack O' Lantern. Children dressing up in costumes trick or treating, bobbing for apples, games of divination and telling ghosts stories became staples in our modern celebration of this unusual and ancient holiday.
Whatever your background may be, Halloween offers many treats (or tricks if your not careful), for all to take part in and enjoy.
