The Real Meaning Behind Halloween

In less than a month Halloween will be upon us. Most of us understand what happens on Halloween but very few understand why. There is a reason WHY we celebrate Halloween the way we do, and by that I mean dressing up in costumes. That's right, there's a very interesting reason why we have adapted the custom of dressing up on Halloween, or as some call it, All Hallow's Eve.

The real reason we dress up on Halloween is to keep away ghouls, ghosts and goblins. You see, the day after Halloween (November 1) is "All Hallow's Day", also known as "All Saints Day". This is a religious holiday that celebrates and recognizes (mostly by the Catholics) all the Saints in the Catholic religion.  Catholics dressed up on Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, to keep away these ghouls, ghosts and goblins.

How does Dressing Up in Costumes keep away Ghouls, Ghosts and Goblins?

People believed that these ghouls, ghosts and goblins wandered around the day before All Hallow's Day looking for Christian souls to take back to Hell with them. These evil beings did this so these Christian souls couldn't celebrate All Hallow's Day. So people would dress up in the most horrifying way to fool these monsters into thinking that this area was "already covered" and that they would hopefully move on to another area.

As time went by, All Hallow's Day became less and less popular. However, All Hallow's Eve (or Halloween) became even more popular (mostly by children) because other religions recognized the holiday as well. Not because of the belief but probably because of the tradition of people handing out candy to those who knocked on strangers door and shouted "Trick or Treat!".