Halloween is a day when everyone dresses up in costumes and celebrates ghosts.Halloween, less popularly known by the names All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Day, is celebrated all over the world on October 31, on the eve of the Western Church feast of All Hallow’s Day.Halloween is celebrated to pay tribute to All Souls’ Day where the dead are paid tributes. There are several activities that go on throughout the month of October leading up to the day of Halloween. People spend a lot of time dressing up in costumes and celebrating in various ways on All Hallows’ Eve.You might want to learn other fun facts about popular festivals that people around the world celebrate. Go ahead and look at these Victorian Christmas facts and facts about the history of Thanksgiving.When did Halloween start?Halloween has its roots in Christian beliefs and practices and the term was also taken from Old English. The word ‘Halloween’ means ‘Saints’ evening’.Even though the term All Hallow is taken from Old English, the celebration started after 1556. All Hallows’ Eve is the evening before the Christian holidays of All Hallow’s Day and All Souls’ Day. This tradition started to pay respect to the dead, especially the martyrs. Over the years, it slowly picked up different traditions which are thought to be influenced by Celtic-speaking countries that have pagan roots.Halloween is celebrated on October 31 because of the Gaelic festival of Samhain which is considered to root of Halloween in some cultures. Not only does the season change during this period, but also observers believe that the veil between the two worlds becomes quite thin during this period. This is believed to help people to connect with the dead. Some other holidays also share this similar ideology. The Jewish festival Yom Kippur also has a similar idea where they say prayers for the dead.What is the real meaning of Halloween?The word ‘Halloween; comes from the term All Hallows’ Evening and is known by various names like All Saints’ Day or Allhalloween. The term has its roots in the Scottish language and over time, the term All Hallows’ Eve became Halloween.This festival is celebrated on October 31 to pay tribute to the dead on All Souls’ Day. The celebrations go on throughout the whole month. On Hallows’ Eve children and adults come together to celebrate Saints’ Eve by contributing to different traditions like trick or treating, wearing Halloween costumes, telling each other ghost stories, and visiting haunted houses.There is a lot of speculation surrounding this festival as some might find it bad to celebrate Halloween. Halloween in the modern world is celebrated as a day to carve pumpkins, wear costumes, and have fun with family and friends. In a religious sense, people are quite conflicted. The history of Halloween can be traced back to more than 2000 years ago and its origin has both Celtic and Catholic traditions. In pagan traditions, this festival is celebrated in order to gain power while in Catholic traditions Halloween is celebrated for intersession.History of HalloweenHalloween history is quite vast and not known by all. The very beginning of this religious holiday happened during the Middle Ages, approximately during the fourth century after Christianity spread throughout medieval Europe. The feast of All Hallows’ was to commemorate Christian martyrs and during the eighth century, November 1 was the official day on which different empires used to pay respect to the dead.By the 12th century, the three days which are known as Allhallowtide were celebrated in order to pray for the souls of the departed, and several traditions were obligatory as well. Churches started ringing bells and the entire community was expected to wear masks and black clothes and parade the streets calling upon the criers. Christians were expected to remember the poor souls. The tradition of baking and sharing soul cakes is thought to be the origin of trick or treating. This custom dates back to the 15th century where poor people, mostly kids, used to knock on the doors of others and ask for soul cakes in exchange for praying for souls. This tradition in England, Wales, Austria, and Bavaria was known as Souling. By the 19th century, people started to light candles in their homes during the period of Allhallowtide to keep away evil spirits.In Britain, these customs were under attack during the period of Reformation as protestants quoted Halloween as the doctrine of the Pope and it was incompatible with the doctrine of predestination. During the Elizabeth reform, all prayers for souls and ceremonies were abolished but All Hallow’s Day remained in the English calendar. In some localities, people still continued souling, but the Anglican Church banned the ringing of bells. Hallowtide was initiated during Fireworks night in England after 1605 and as the old customs were banned, new customs started to emerge.The wearing of costumes or masks started as the Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh believed that the souls used to seek their last revenge on someone before passing onto the other side, and therefore to avoid that on Saints’ Say, people started to dress up in costumes or cover their faces with masks. Many Christians in Europe believed that on the night of Halloween once a year the churchyard rose for one wild night, known as the dance macabre, where the dead came together and enjoyed their time in this world.Today’s customs of Halloween are said to be influenced by the folk customs and beliefs of Celtic territory, mainly Ireland. The medieval Gaelic calendar associated the period of Allhallowtide to be the ancient Celtic festival called Samhain. Samhain marked the end of the harvest season in Celtic lands and marked the beginning of winter which Celts believed as the darker part of the year. People thought that during this period the veil between the otherworld and the real world became thinner and the spirits or Celtic deities could cross.During this period, young women used to read fortunes especially to foretell the future of someone, to see future husbands or family fortune. Apple bobbing, roasting nuts, and interpreting dreams, were done during these three days as traditions for the Celtic celebration. Special bonfires were held and their smokes and ashes were thought to have cleansing powers. In some areas, the torches that were lit were carried clockwise around homes and fields in order to protect them. In Scotland, these practices were banned by the elder priests. Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and other areas from around the 16th century practiced mumming or disguising and went from house to house in this guise. They recited poems or sang songs in exchange for food. This might have been a tradition where people copied the souls of the dead, which is quite similar to souling.The spread of this around the world happened to celebrate the souls of the dead, but the spread of Halloween to North America wasn’t smooth. Anglican colonists and Catholic colonists recognized Hallows’ eve whereas the Puritans of New England opposed it. After the mass immigration of Irish and Scottish people in the 19th century, Halloween became a major American tradition. After this, thanks to the American influence, it started to spread all over the world and people now see it as a fun holiday.Halloween TraditionsHalloween traditions have changed from the Middle Ages and are quite different from the Roman celebration during the earlier time period. The theme of Halloween is quite simple and everything is decorated in the colors, orange and black.Bonfires are a must and playing pranks are a ritual during Halloween. The most unique Halloween traditions is how people decorate their houses. There are even neighborhoods that have themes every year or even a slight competition to make their home the spookiest when it comes to adding real-life or giant-sized decors.Carving pumpkins and presenting them as Jack-o-lanterns is a Halloween tradition that is done by people everywhere. The root of this tradition can be traced back to Ireland, where it started with turnips. It is based on a legend that a man named Jack used to trap the Devil and only let him go on the condition that the devil would not take Jack’s soul. After Jack died, he came to know that Heaven did not want his soul and therefore he started to roam Earth. In order to ward off the evil spirit, people started to carve scary faces on pumpkins and keep them outside. Now, this pumpkin carving has become a tradition that bonds people. On Halloween night, door porches are lit up with carved pumpkins. Year on year, pumpkins are becoming more elaborate with tricky designs.Wearing scary Halloween costumes is a must when it comes to Halloween customs. People of all ages wear different costumes and celebrate the eve of Halloween. Kids began to wear costumes, however young adults and parents now also get involved with dressing up. Kids dress up and continue the tradition of trick or treat where they knock from door to door and receive candies. Children dressing as different scary characters or cute ones go out in groups for trick or treating. While out and about if someone sees black cats, then it is quite smart for them to run away as black cats are seen as familiars of witches and children are quite scared by this legend. As children grow older, trick or treating is less common. Teenagers start to go out with their friends to haunted houses or to parties dressed up in pet costumes, different animal masks, or dressing up as famous movie characters.Haunted houses are also a big trend in modern-day Halloween as carnivals during this holiday have several haunted house where people pay money and enter houses or tents which are decorated with spooky details. Sometimes, there are real humans dressed up as scary characters that run and jump out at you. These people or scary traps jump out of corners in order to scare people entering the haunted house. This tradition started during the Great Depression in order to tame young people who had crossed lines by playing pranks on passersby. Even now there are cases of youngsters playing pranks on houses by throwing eggs or throwing toilet paper all over the backyard or house itself. This causes quite a hassle for the owner to clean up the next day.Apple bobbing is still practiced in some places to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of agriculture and abundance. Traditionally, the game of apple bobbing was played by men and they tried to bite into apples with their mouths. This could carry on over several games. This game was played so that a young woman could decide on a future husband, but now this is just a party game. After the end of Halloween, the holiday season rushes towards people and Halloween is a warm-up for Thanksgiving and Christmas.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked discovering how Halloween started then why not take a look at facts about Hurricane Katrina, or facts about chocolate.
Halloween is a day when everyone dresses up in costumes and celebrates ghosts.
