What is the history of Halloween?
Many people think that Samhain, an ancient Druid holiday, is where Halloween got its start. However, at least one expert suggests that may not be the case.
A research professor at UCLA who specializes in medieval and renaissance studies, Henry Ansgar Kelly, explains, "For the past century or so, scholars, especially folklorists, have been associating it with ancient Celtic times, saying that there was some festival of the return of the dead on October 31 but that turns out to be bogus."
Kelly claims that Halloween originated in the United States somewhere in the 1800s when Irish immigrants brought their customs and festivals, such as All Saints' Day, with them.
According to Kelly, "All Saints' Day was a feast day on the Catholic calendar." "You celebrate all the folks who have gone to heaven on November 1st."
According to Kelly, vigils were held the night before All Saints' Day in honor of the souls who were still in purgatory and had not yet entered heaven. Halloween was born because, in essence, it was a time to pray for the dead.
The history of Halloween is seen somewhat differently by Lisa Morton, author of "Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween," who cites Christian missionaries who came to convert Irish Celtics and found them celebrating Samhain (pronounced SAH-win), a festival that celebrates ghost stories and the transition into a darker season.
According to Morton, "Some of the Celtic lore that they recorded is truly very disturbing." "There are still some truly eerie stories that the Celts told each other at Samhain."
She does not, however, entirely disagree with Kelly's viewpoint. According to Morton, the Halloween we observe today is probably a hybrid of All Saints' Day and Samhain.
Furthermore, according to Morton, Halloween really took off in the 1900s as stores started mass-producing Halloween cards, decorations, and costumes, bringing the festival into the mainstream, even though it has been observed in the United States since at least the late 1800s.
How did Halloween get its name?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines "Halloween" as the eve of All Hallows' or All Saints' Day. The meaning of the word has changed over time.
Kelly claims that the name is a mix of the Scottish terms "een," which means "evening," and "hallow," which roughly translates to "saint" or "holy person."
Halloween translates to "holy evening," which makes sense considering its Christian connotations. The Scots started merging the two terms and calling October 31 "Hallow-e'en" around 1773.
The term remained, though, because it was Scottish poet Robert Burns who first put the words together in his poem "Halloween," published in 1786.
Why do we trick-or-treat on Halloween?
Halloween used to be synonymous with fun costume parties and trick-or-treating, but Morton says that was not always the case.
She claims that for many years, Halloween was a night dedicated to playing tricks or pranks on unwary individuals. The jokes escalated into full-fledged vandalism by the 1930s, causing major American cities to sustain damage worth millions of dollars.
"[People] were tripping people on walkways, shattering light fixtures, and starting fires, and in 1933, vandals caused so much damage that it became known as 'Black Halloween,'" Morton adds.
Many localities considered outright banning Black Halloween after it occurred but ultimately chose to follow a well-liked Canadian custom. Kelly says, "It looks like the concept was that if you give the kids food, they will not go about and play tricks."
Kelly claims that the concept gained momentum in the US in the 1930s and 1940s, leading to the custom of ringing doorbells and yelling "Trick or treat" in the hopes of winning candy on Halloween.
Why do we wear costumes on Halloween?
Halloween is a great time to dress up and act out scenarios. However, where did the idea of dressing up for Halloween originate?
Morton begs to differ, pointing out that costumes are a fairly very new tradition, even though many people link the ritual to the ancient Celts and Samhain.
Morton and Kelly are still a little perplexed as to why we wear costumes.
According to Morton, costumes may have been worn even before the 1920s, when children dressed as ghosts were featured in periodicals.
Indeed, dressing up may be associated with Christmas, and an ancient tradition is known as "belsnickeling," in which youngsters in costume would perform plays for their neighbors in return for candy, akin to today's Halloween.
Why do we carve jack-o'-lanterns?
The origins of carving jack-o'-lanterns may be found in Ireland, and the idea behind them comes from an old story about a man called "Stingy Jack."
Morton explains that "Jack was a legendary trickster," pointing out that the "Jack" folktales had hundreds of variations worldwide.
According to legend, Jack, an evildoer and alcoholic, escaped death three times by deceiving the devil into not taking his soul.
When Jack passed away, the enraged devil denied him access to hell and blocked him from heaven. Jack, who has been sentenced to spend all of eternity walking through the dark worlds of good and bad, carries a carved turnip with a bright ember within to guide him.
Does that sound familiar? Jack-o'-lantern.
The Library of Congress claims that the Irish probably carved faces into turnips as a means of warding off evil spirits after reading the "Stingy Jack" tale.
According to Morton, "The Irish and Scottish discovered these beautiful native pumpkins when they got to America, and (they) were even better than turnips." They were also simpler to carve due to their size.
But according to Morton, the practice of turning pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns is still relatively recent.
"To imply that the Irish and Scottish were carving pumpkins 200 years ago is a bit of a myth," she says. Two hundred years ago, they did not have pumpkins. When they arrived, they discovered what are known as "new world fruits."
Why are orange and black Halloween colors?
Halloween's distinctive color palette is black and orange, much like Christmas's association with red and green.
Morton says that is probably because the holiday itself inspired their development, assuming that black honors the night and other Halloween-related items like black cats and bats, while orange symbolizes pumpkins.
"Orange and black is new," she claims. "Halloween is associated with the hues brown and yellow, according to catalogs from the early 20th century."
The orange and black color scheme became widespread over time, according to Morton, and "it seemed to be really popular."
As they say, the rest is history.