Once upon a time, some 2,000 years ago, the lands that are now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France were inhabited by a people known as the Celts. The Celts had a festival they called Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”), marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the darker half of the year. Celebrated from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1, it was a time when the boundary between the living and the dead was believed to blur.
During Samhain, the Celts would light grand bonfires and don costumes—often made of animal heads and skins—to appease and ward off wandering spirits, who they believed could cause trouble or harm their crops. They also left food and wine on their doorsteps to keep these spirits at bay, while they would try to predict each other’s fortunes for the coming year.
When the Romans conquered Celtic territories around 43 AD, they blended some of their traditions with the Celtic Samhain throughout their 400-year reign. Two Roman festivals were Feralia, the commemoration of the dead, and a day honoring Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees, whose symbol was an apple. It’s believed this might have been an influence on the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
Fast forward to the 7th century AD, when Pope Boniface IV established All Saints’ Day on May 13 to honor all saints and martyrs. Pope Gregory III later shifted this holiday to November 1. The evening before which was the eve of the Samhain in Celtic tradition, became known as All Hallows Eve, and eventually Halloween.
In the 9th century, Christianity spread into Celtic lands, gradually blending with and supplanting older Celtic rites. The church instituted All Souls’ Day on November 2, a day to honor the dead, and it’s widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a church-approved holiday. All Souls’ Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes. All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day, and All Hallows Eve were collectively called Hallowmas.
When European immigrants, especially the Irish fleeing the Irish Potato Famine in the mid-19th century, arrived in America, they brought their varied Halloween customs with them. Because of the rigid Protestant beliefs of early New England, a celebration of Halloween was extremely limited there. It was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies.
By the late 19th century, the traditions of Halloween began to take on a more community-centered approach in America. Parties for children and adults became the norm, and Halloween lost most superstitious and religious overtones.
By the 20th century, Halloween had become largely a secular celebration, with activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes, and eating treats dominating the festivities. Trick-or-treating is a modern tradition, with the “trick” part implying a threat to perform mischief on homeowners who do not “treat” the children with sweets. This tradition is a combination of various historical influences, including the Celtic practice of giving offerings to supernatural beings and the medieval Christian tradition of “souling”, where the poor would go door to door on Hallowmas, offering prayers for the dead in exchange for food.
Today, Halloween is the second-largest commercial holiday in the U.S., with its spooky and fun-filled traditions celebrated by people of all ages. While it’s a far cry from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, traces of its historical roots still linger in the customs we practice today. And that is the wicked woven web of Halloween’s history.