Halloween is one of the most popular and fun holidays all over the world, but surprisingly, very few people know its origins. So, if you’ve been wondering what Halloween is all about, or you’ve been tasked with an assignment on the history of Halloween but you don’t want to buy essays online – this article is for you.
Every October 31st, there is a celebration known as Halloween celebrations. It all begun with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, whereby people wore costumes like ghosts and light bonfires.
In the 18th century, pope Gregory III dedicated November 1st a moment to honor all saints. As time went by, the saints included some of the traditions of Samhain into their activities. The previous evening before the saint’s day was called Hallows Eve, which later translated to Halloween. During Halloween, the activities that took place included donning costumes, carving jack-o-lanterns, eating retreats, and festive gatherings.
The Origin of Halloween
Halloween started during the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain in the areas known today as Ireland, Northern France, and the United Kingdom.
It was during the end of summer and the onset of winter, whereby many deaths took place. The Celtics assumed that the living and the dead boundary was blurred during the night before the new year. On October 31st, they had the celebrations believing that the dead are up again.
The Celtics believed that the spirits enabled the priests and druids to predict future events, damage crops, and cause general troubles. Those who believed in the natural forces valued the prophecies a lot.
As they celebrated the events, the Druids created holy bonfires, where people met with burning animals and crops as a sacrifice to the Celtics. The Celtics had clothes with animal skins and head during the celebrations as they prophesied good happenings to others.
After the celebrations, they put on the hearth fires, which was previously put off to protect them.
Halloween in America
Halloween celebrations were limited in New England due to strong beliefs in the area. As a result, Halloween was practiced majorly in the Southern colonies and Maryland regions. Within no time, European groups’ practices started interconnecting with that of Americans, which led to Halloween in America.
Trick-or-Treating History
After the Americans have emulated the European traditions, they started to embrace their way of dressing, which lead to a season of trick-or-treating. The idea was to move from one house to another, asking for money or food.
Community leaders and newspapers encouraged the parents to embrace frightening ideas to grace Halloween celebrations.
How Halloween Parties Begun
Halloween became a community-based holiday by the 1920s whereby there were parties and parades to grace the celebrations. However, any communities were against such a celebration during this time. But as time went by, Halloween became an official holiday in the 1950s. Many parties took place in homes and classrooms because many children took part in the celebrations. In the end, another tradition started happening in America until the date. Today, Halloween comes second of the biggest holidays in America after Christmas.
Conclusion
Everything has a journey. Any event or a given celebration happening in the world has its origin and roots. Nothing comes into being just from nowhere. The same applies to Halloween. Many of us embrace the celebrations, but we have no idea of how everything started taking place. That is a brief history of how Halloween celebrations began to take place.
