where does Halloween come from every
October 31st
Halloween is celebrated around the world
and popular activities associated with
it are trick-or-treating attending
Halloween themed parties carving
pumpkins into creepy lanterns telling
scary stories watching horror films and
visiting haunted attractions but where
does Halloween actually come from and
why do we have it there are various
theories that has its roots in pagan
Christian or Roman rituals but the most
likely explanation is it is linked to
the Celtic festival of saw one which
means summer's end in Irish and that it
later went on to influence all of these
saw one marked the end of the harvest
season and the beginning of winter it is
thought to be an ancient celebration and
may date back as far as the Neolithic
era which is about five to six thousand
years ago villagers would gather around
bonfires on nearby hilltops for the end
of October was believed to be a liminal
time by the Celtic people when spirits
could easily cross over from the realm
of the gods of the Dead to the land of
the living people wore masks and
disguises around the bonfire in an
attempt not to be recognized by any
wandering ghosts or evil spirits that
night and it's thought to have inspired
people to dress up as witches hobgoblins
and demons
during modern day Halloween the term
Halloween actually comes from
contracting the phrase All Hallows
evening hallow meaning holy or saintly
and in a contraction of Eve or the
evening before in the 9th century the
Christian Church moved their holy day of
All Saints Day from the month of May to
November first as part of a program to
Christianize many popular pagan
practices but in fact all that moving
All Saints Day to the same time as sawa
did was to merge the two together and
create a new popular event on the
calendar which eventually led to modern
day Halloween Day activities associated
with it has pagan or Christian
influences or sometimes both take the
carving of pumpkins which was originally
an old Irish tradition to carve faces on
turnips and place candles inside them
when Irish immigrants brought this
custom to North America there was a
plentiful supply of pumpkins and they
were easier to carve this was to signify
an old tale of a fight between the
and a man called Jack hence the name
given to them Jack O'Lantern as for
trick-or-treating it seemed to have
originated in England and dates back to
the medieval times when there was a
tradition where groups of Christians
would go around on Halloween going from
door to door they would ask for gifts of
soul cakes in exchange for prayer for
the beloved souls of the departed soul
cakes were round and made with nutmeg
cinnamon ginger along with raisins or
currants and marked on top with the sign
of the Cross trick-or-treating as we
know it with scary costumes and children
going through door to door and asking
for candy is an early American 20th
century invention celebration of
Halloween was extremely limited in
colonial America but when the Irish
potato famine forced millions to flee to
America in the second half of the 19th
century they brought with them many
Celtic traditions that helped to make
Halloween popular throughout the nation
so Halloween is now a fun-filled holiday
with a history and influence that
stretches back thousands of years what
are you doing for this Halloween let us
know and leave a comment below
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