The History of Halloween - Is it a Trick, or a Treat?

Halloween is becoming a larger celebrated holiday by the year all around the world but what really is Halloween and its origins?

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Have you ever wondered what Halloween was really about? Today we see it as a blend of a cultural, occultic, and a religious melting pot that began well over 2,000 years ago predating Christianity. The culture that it began with was the Celts as they celebrated the end of their yearly harvest. On the night of October 31st, they would celebrate the end with a festival called "Samhain." According to this source, the word in Gaelic means "summers end." Also, the article noted quotes from a history professor at York University in Toronto, Nicholas Rogers, which stated:

"...there is no hard evidence that Samhain was specifically devoted to the dead or to ancestor worship...
According to the ancient sagas, Samhain was the time when tribal peoples paid tribute to their conquerors and when the sidh [ancient mounds] might reveal the magnificent palaces of the gods of the underworld," Rogers wrote. "Samhain was less about death or evil than about the changing of seasons and preparing for the dormancy (and rebirth) of nature as summer turned to winter," he said.

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Due to the season change from Autumn into Winter, they believed the night before November 1st (their New Year) dead spirits would roam the Earth. According to The National Geographic video below, in their tradition, they would create bonfires to cast away these spirits back to the realm of the dead. They would also dress-up as a ghost if they were going outside in hopes to blend in. It is also said they would leave food and drink outside their door in hopes to sway the entities away.

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According to this article from The Celtic Times:

Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
The day after the bonfire the ashes were spread across the fields to further ward off bad luck for the farmers during the year.
It was also traditionally believed that the bonfire encourages dreams especially of your future husband or wife. It was said that if you drop a cutting of your hair into the embers of the fire the identity of your first husband would be revealed.

As time pushed forward and the Catholic Church took its roots, it was not fond of this tradition so it made a blend of its own holiday. In the 7th Century, it decided to merge this Celtic holiday with "All Saint's Day" or "Hallowmas." November 1st still marks this holiday to honor and recognize the saints who were martyred and are deceased. The night before became known as"All Hallow's Eve."

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The tradition of costumes is said to have come from customs called "mumming" or "guising." In these traditions, people would dress-up in a disguise and go door-to-door begging for food and in return, they would put on a play or a skit. In Britain and Ireland, on November 1st, a similar custom called "souling" was commenced. In the tradition of "souling", the poor would dress in disguise asking for food in return for prayers to the dead. These customs may have links to those medieval customs dating back.

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As time moved forward, so did the customs and its rituals. From the 1840's onward, it is stated that from all of the Irish immigrants that fled because of the Potato Famine, they brought their traditions with them to America. The video below states some of the customs they brought with them such as, bobbing for apples and playing tricks on their fellow neighbors while wearing masks. Over the years this became an issue because these harmless pranks such as egging a house or letting a herd of cattle out became an outright problem of vandalism. Around the 1930's it became somewhat dangerous and that of extortion. Kids would randomly demand candy or vandalism would ensue. As years passed into the late 1930's, the holiday greeting of "Trick or Treat" became coined and it was encouraged that kids went door to door to make the holiday safer for all. By the 1950's it was a regular family affair:

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Prior to WWII and the commercializing of "Trick or Treating", it was not uncommon for kids to ask for food on Thanksgiving which was called "Thanksgiving begging."

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"Mass solicitation rituals are pretty common, and are usually associated with winter holidays," Santino said. While one tradition didn't necessarily cause the others, they were "similar and parallel," he said... Since that time, the holiday's popularity increased dramatically as adults, communities, and institutions (such as schools, campuses and commercial haunted houses) have embraced the event.

Many within the realm of Christianity today warn that this holiday of the "devil", but from its origins could it be that it doesn't have the same implications it does today?

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Some evangelical Christians have expressed concern that Halloween is somehow satanic because of its roots in pagan ritual. However, ancient Celts did not worship anything resembling the Christian devil and had no concept of it. In fact, the Samhain festival had long since vanished by the time the Catholic Church began persecuting witches in its search for satanic cabals. And, of course, black cats do not need to have any association with witchcraft to be considered evil — simply crossing their path is considered bad luck any time of year.

The Celtics worshiped many gods. The festival Samhain revolved around the mythology of the "Sun God" dying, leaving his widow (Goddess Crone) to mourn until he is "reborn" at the time of the Yule, (December 21st), where the winter solstice began. As some tradition will say that is the main celebration is centered around the realm of the spiritual world, and some historians as cited in this post claim it had no intentions of evil, this could potentially be debated.

There may be a small link between Samhain and Halloween, blended in with All Saint's Day, but the clear picture here is that it became a children's holiday and now is commercialized into popularity among adults and in other counties worldwide. The same article states:

Through the ages, various supernatural entities — including fairies and witches — came to be associated with Halloween, and more than a century ago in Ireland, the event was said to be a time when spirits of the dead could return to their old haunting grounds. Dressing up as ghosts or witches became fashionable, though as the holiday became more widespread and more commercialized (and with the arrival of mass-manufactured costumes), the selection of disguises for kids and adults greatly expanded beyond monsters to include everything from superheroes to princesses to politicians.

It is certain that today a lot more demonic intention is centered around October 31st than in the years past, sadly not enough historical data to confirm or deny this from its origins. Witches were classified as "un-Christian" in the 8th Century, and Halloween never was given its name until around the 16th Century. Overall this timeline may help put this all into an easier perspective:

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Today this is what Halloween looks like in America in numbers:

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The primary and underlying connection between history and today seem to be the date of these traditions and the central focus on spirits of those who have passed on. The original intent was derived out of a pagan ritual, whereas today it has become something commercialized. It can be viewed as dangerous both in the physical and/or spiritual. Many people get poisoned or killed each year as well as there are many into more of the demonic rituals with not good intentions. Over time it seems things have been taken into different contexts of worshiping the dead or being able to commune with them from different rituals not directly associated with Samhain. There, of course, is no precise link, but I hope this can put some clarity or at least show the progression of what Halloween has become. Interesting or not, it is a part of this Earth's history and leads the scoreboard of #2 in the most money spent on a holiday, next to #1 Christmas. Let that sink in...So now that you know the history behind Halloween, what is it that you are actually celebrating or worshiping? If it is "just for fun," do you not think you are inviting in ancient and new spirits, whether perceived as good or bad? What meaning or intent do you put into something that has little to do with good and wholesome spiritual growth? It should be time to reflect and think to make the best choices.

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Be well!

~Be Love, Be Light~