If you've ever wondered about the (sort of Christian) background/history of #Halloween:
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
The Celts believed the night before the New Year (which they celebrated on Nov 1) the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes (typically animal heads and skins) to ward off roaming ghosts. It was also a night of fortune-telling. By the 9th century Christianity had spread into Celtic lands.
All Saints Day, together with All Souls Day—Christian feasts celebrated on Nov 1 and 2 in honor of deceased saints/martyrs—gradually blended with and supplanted (likely intentionally) the older Celtic rite. As with Samhain, All Souls Day was celebrated with bonfires and parades.
Another tradition of the feast was—you guessed it—dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse).
The night prior, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. In the second half of the 19th c., America was flooded w/ new immigrants, many of whom came from (guess where!) Ireland, home of the Celts.
These new immigrants helped to popularize the celebration of “Halloween” nationally. One more thing: During All Souls’ Day parades in England, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes.”
(In return they'd promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives.) The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient (Samhain) practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits.
The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.
Drawing from these Irish/English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes, going house to house asking for food or money—a practice that evolved into today’s practice of “trick-or-treat.”
Yet there remains to be discovered any historical or moral justification for candy corn.
Happy All Hallows Eve!
Happy All Hallows Eve!
