The History of Halloween by VampireMaiden

On October 31st, you will be likely to see witches, ghosts, goblins, skeletons, demons, and other evil characters knocking at your door and hollering “trick or treat”, and they will expect a treat or you will be tricked. There will be parties where kids (and even adults) bob for apples, tell fortunes, or go through haunted houses. There will be many decorations of jack-o-lanterns or pumpkins, witches on brooms, and black cats. It is the only day of the year when we give free food and candy to strangers and display carved vegetables on our front porches. When you really think about it, October 31st is a very strange day . . . Where did we get this celebration called Halloween?
The History of Halloween, like any other festival's history, is inspired through traditions that have gone through the ages from one generation to another. We follow them mostly as our and grandfathers and grandmothers have. And as this goes on, much of their originality changes with newer additions and different alterations. It happens so gradually, over so many years, that we hardly realize these changes. We should be digging into its history to help sort out the facts from the fantasies. Yet, doubt still lurks deep in our souls, especially when the reality differs from what has taken a deep seated root into our beliefs.
The history of Halloween Day can be shown in many different ways. 'Trick or treat' may be innocent fun to enjoy on the Halloween Day, but just think about a bunch of frightening fantasies and the scary stories featuring ghosts, witches, monsters, evils, elves and animal sacrifices connected with it. They are no more innocent. Are these stories a myth or there is a blend of some reality?
Halloween, or the Hallow E'en as they call it in Ireland , means All Hallows Eve, or the night before the ‘All Hallows’, also called ‘All Hallowmas’, or ‘All Saints’, or ‘All Souls’ Day, observed on November 1st. In old English, the word ‘Hallow’ meant ‘sanctify’ or ‘bless’. Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians used to observe All Hallows Day to honor all Saints in heaven, known or unknown.
One story says that, on Halloween Day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called “souling”. On November 2nd, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for “soul cakes,” made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could advance a soul's passage to heaven.
The Jack-o-lantern custom comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was well known to be a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree. According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid blanket of darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer. The Irish used turnips as their “Jack's lanterns” originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that there were a lot more pumpkins than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember. This tradition is now a pumpkin carved with many different faces and designs, with a candle glowing inside, made by children, adults, and even the elderly.
The Witch is a central symbol of Halloween. The name comes from the Saxon Wicca, meaning “wise one”. When setting out for a Sabbath, witches rubbed a sacred ointment onto their skin. This gave them a feeling of flying, and if they had been fasting they felt even giddier. Some witches rode on horseback, but poor witches went on foot and carried a broom or a pole to aid in vaulting over streams. In England when new witches were initiated they were often blindfolded, smeared with flying ointment and placed on a broomstick. The ointment would confuse the mind, speed up the pulse and numb the feet. When they were told “You are flying over land and sea,” the witch took their word for it.
Despite the connection with the Roman Church, the American version of Halloween Day celebration owes its origin to the ancient (pre-Christian) Druidic fire festival called “Samhain”(pronounced “sow-in”), celebrated by the Celts in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. In Ireland the festival was known as Samhein, or La Samon, the Feast of the Sun.
Halloween history is one of religious traditions, sacrifices and folklore. Though it may seem strange and hard to understand the motivation of these ancient actions, it is good to know the roots of our current practices of Halloween. Weather you dress as your favorite movie character and go from door to door, asking for candy, or you throw a party, celebrating the night, or if you think it’s all spiritual and you are “in tune with the spirits”, Halloween is for all to celebrate and enjoy.