A Festive Narrative On The History of Halloween Origin

With Halloween just around the corner, the festivities have already started. Halloween is one of the sacred and oldest traditions that have been in existence for thousands of years. Before we get into the depth of the history of Halloween, you need to understand that it is an integral part of the human condition simply because it touches on the important aspect of human life that is the relationship between the living and the dead. You would be surprised to know that almost every human civilization has created some ceremonial and ritual observance that primarily focuses on what happens when people die, where they go, and how one should honor those who have passed and move on.

To get a basic understanding of the history of Halloween, you need to know that countries across the world celebrate the festival of Halloween in different ways and forms. Right from Mexico’s Day of the Dead to China’s Tomb Sweeping Day. While in countries like the United States of America and Canada, their Halloween celebrations focus more on ancient traditions of the festivities.

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The Halloween tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, where people would simply light bonfires and wear colorful costumes to ward off evil and ghosts. However, the evening before was also known as All Hallows Eve, and later it came to be known as Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved and it included a series of fun activities like trick-or-treating, festive gatherings, dressing up in costumes, and eating treats.

1. American History of the Halloween

As already mentioned above, the roots of the Halloween festivities can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts were the inhabitants who used to live some 2,000 years ago. Furthermore, the day also marked the end of hot summer months and the beginning of cold winters. Hence, on the night of October 31st, the Celts celebrated Samhain, as it was believed that the ghosts returned to earth.

Apart from causing trouble and damaging the crops, Celts also believed that the presence of the spirits made it easier to make predictions. To further celebrate and commemorate the event, the Celtic priests built bonfires, people used to burn crops and animals as sacrifices. During the ongoing celebrations, the Celts wore costumes, and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortune. Once the celebrations were over, they used to re-lit the hearth fires, which they had extinguished later that evening, simply to protect themselves from the cold winter breeze.

2. American History of the Halloween

One of the important and the most promising Halloween history facts is that the celebration of the festival was initially limited to Colonial New England because of the rigid and orthodox protestant beliefs. When the different belief systems of the Europeans and the American Indians collided together, a unique and perhaps the most distinctive version of American Halloween began to emerge. Neighbors would also join in the celebrations and would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, and dance together. It was in the middle of the 19th century, annual autumn festivities were pretty much common, but till then Halloween was not celebrated vastly throughout the country.

However, in the second half of the 19th century, the United States of America was flooded with new immigrants. And, mostly half the population of the immigrants was Irish who played a great role in popularizing the festival of Halloween nationally.

3. Do You Know The History of Trick-Or-Treat?

The entire Halloween tradition has been borrowed by America from Europe. Particularly when it came to the festivities, Americans began dressing up in colorful costumes and used to go from one house to another seeking food or money, a practice which eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Back in the late 1800s, there was a mass movement conducted in America, to mold Halloween into a holiday so that the community could get together and celebrate the festival together.

Later, Halloween parties also became a thing for both the kids and adults to celebrate the day. The Halloween parties laid a strong emphasis on games, foods, and different costumes.

4. The Tradition of Popular Halloween Parties

Another vital Halloween tradition is the Halloween Parties. It was between the 1920s and the 1930s that Halloween had become an important and secular holiday, with colorful parades and town-wide parties as an important featured entertainment. But despite all the hard work, vandalism spoiled all the celebrations. Between the 1920s and the 1950s, the old practice of trick-or-treating was revived back. It was an inexpensive way for a community to share the Halloween celebrations.

Thus, it was when a new American tradition was born, and till now it continues to grow. Today, Americans across the globe spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween celebrations, making it the country’s second-largest and commercial holiday after Christmas.