origins of halloween (from the old blog)
It’s that time of year. My favorite holiday is only a few days away, and I thought it would be fun to blog about its origins. Different cultures have their own versions of halloween, but the one we associate with is credited to the celts. Thousands of years ago, they would celebrate something called Samhain, a holiday that marked the one day a year where the dead could walk on Earth, cause mischeif, and when the druids priests could better predict the future. They would build a big bonfire that evening to celebrate. Now the costumes we love to put on for a day or the night? They were animal pelts commoners would wear to try and tell their own fortunes. They also wore the skins to blend in or calm the spirits, for fear of their wrath.
Almost 2000 years ago, the Romans conquered much of Britain, which included much of the Celt population. Samhain was merged with another fall roman holiday honoring Pomona, goddess of fruit and trees, which supposedly is where bobbing for apples comes from. When the Romans became Christians, the holiday got another twist. November 1st used to be All Hallow’s, a day for celebrating saints and martyrs. October 31st was known as All Hallow’s Even (old school for evening). Thus, it became Halloween. As the years passed, the religious connotations dropped away, the trick-or-treating began through a community feel for the holiday.
Then sadly, it became a commercial holiday like all the others. Candy companies make money because many households buy bags upon bags of candy to pass out. Even Hallmark makes bank on Halloween cards. It’s not about the dead anymore, not about saints or martyrs, it’s about candy and costumes, and in many cases, getting drunk.
(sources: mental floss magazine, wikipedia)
