Origins of Halloween
October 6, 2022 2022-11-08 14:17Origins of Halloween
Where the idea of halloween came from
People celebrate Halloween all over the world, but the way it’s celebrated now is vastly different from how it was back then. Nowadays, we see Halloween as a fun celebration where kids dress up in costumes, go trick-or-treating, and have Halloween parties. Before this modernization, Halloween came from a completely different celebration.
Halloween was not known as Halloween where it first dates back. Although there are a few theories about where it came from, the main one is that it was formerly the ancient Celtic festival, Samhain. Nearly two thousand years ago, located what is now France, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
It was a festival where Celts came together to try and ward off ghosts by putting out food and drinks to appease the apparitions or to make them happy. Later, people wanted in on the appeasing, so they started wearing scary costumes to look as close to ghosts as possible. It’s how costume-wearing came to be an ordinary custom.
Locals believed ghosts came back to haunt Earth on October 31st, the night before their said New Year. This is also the night before All Saint’s Day on November 1st. All Saint’s Day is dedicated to all the saints in the church who have attained Heaven. Attaining Heaven means becoming a Christian and accepting Jesus as one’s Savior. They would have a feast to commemorate the fact.
On the other hand, black cats are one of the many symbols of Halloween. Back in the Middle Ages and even now, it is said that black cats are cursed or the symbol of the Devil. And when witches became popularized, people believed that black cats were the animals that witches would turn into to hide and assist them with dark magic.
When it comes to the foods that are commonly eaten during Halloween, there are different explanations for each. The idea of candy corn came from the fact that corn was one of the harvests around the time.
As for candy apples and bobbing apples, the Celts believed in the goddess of gardens and orchards. This ancient Roman goddess goes by the name Pomona and is typically represented by apples. Therefore, the tradition of apple eating and apple bobbing during Halloween began.
Food that people don’t eat during Halloween but do decorate are pumpkins! People would carve them into jack O’ lanterns. The reason behind this fun activity is a legend originating from Ireland about a boy named Jack who didn’t want to go to Hell but couldn’t get into Heaven either. He then was forced to roam between the two, on Earth as a ghostly spirit using a turnip lantern to guide the way. Because of this, people started turning pumpkins, which were native to their region, into lanterns to keep the spirits away.
These Halloween customs are nothing new. A ton of locals celebrate it every year but don’t even know why it’s a thing. It came from long ago before its’ newly improved and revamped traditions. The history behind them is interesting, to say the least.
