Scary costumes, insane amounts of candy, gatherings with family and friends, and centuries-old histories… Our favorite holidays come with their own stories. From dressing up spooky for Halloween to exchanging chocolate eggs on Easter, each one has its own way of celebrating.
Behind the pumpkins, costumes, and chocolate bunnies lies a much longer history, shaped by ancient people, religious beliefs, and cultural shifts. What began as traditions restricted to specific cultures has evolved into the celebrations we recognize today. And while some customs have survived for centuries, others have changed so much that their origins might surprise us.
Before the Trick-or-Treat
Halloween, also known as All Hallows’ Eve, celebrated on October 31, has its origins dating back to 2.000 years ago, in a Celtic festival called Samhain, celebrated in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northwest France. This ritual would celebrate the threshold between summer and winter. The Celts strongly believed that around this time of the year, the veil separating the worlds of the living and the dead was thinner, so some would leave empty chairs and food for the spirits to visit, light bonfires to keep them warm, and even disguise themselves to be protected from evil.
All Saints’ Day, a date set by Pope Gregory III, was celebrated by the Catholic Church on November 1st. Then, it was known as All Hallows Day, and this is why the day before, October 31, is called All Hallows’ Eve. Even though the Church tried to keep people from participating in this non-Christian event, it wasn’t exactly successful. When this holiday was brought from Europe to America, some things changed to what we do now, like pumpkin carving. Most of its original rituals aren’t here anymore, but to this day, we dress up to play pretend and go trick-or-treating from door to door to get candy.
Beyond the Chocolate Eggs
Easter’s roots go back to the Jewish Passover, Christian theology, and ancient spring festivals. The Passover, Pesach in Hebrew, is an ancient religious moment to remember and celebrate the Israelites’ freedom from Egyptian slavery after more than 400 years.
As a new king held power in Egypt and the number of Israelites kept on increasing, the pharaoh, afraid of losing his power, forced them into slavery. Moses, a baby boy who was saved from the king’s order to kill all newborn Hebrew boys, led his people out of Egypt after God told him that he and his brother would save the Israelites and sent a series of ten plagues upon their land. The name of the holiday comes from the final plague: God spared the Israelite households marked with lamb’s blood, passing over their homes while the firstborn of Egypt died.
The Exodus became a defining story in Jewish tradition. Celebrated for thousands of years, Passover is observed through family gatherings and the Seder, a ritual meal featuring symbolic foods and the retelling of the Exodus story. Beyond commemorating a biblical event, the holiday celebrates freedom, faith, and cultural heritage.
As for the Christians, this is the most important holiday of the year. Also dating back more than 2.000 years, this day marks the main event for the Catholic Church: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to the Gospels, during a meal with his 12 apostles, the Last Supper, Jesus predicted that one of them would betray him, and so it happened. Judas Iscariot handed Jesus over to a Jewish priest in exchange for 30 pieces of silver.
After losing his popularity and being tortured, Christ was condemned to death by Jerusalem’s governor, Pontius Pilate. This holiday takes place at the end of Lent, a 40-day season completed at Holy Week, when Easter happens. It is indeed a remarkable date for Catholics.
Beyond Judaism and Christianity, Easter also carries traces of the spring festivals celebrated by ancient peoples, such as the Germanic tribes and the Greeks. These festivals honored nature and the arrival of spring, which begins around March 21st in the Northern Hemisphere. Spring was associated with fertility, new beginnings, and longer, sunnier days, a time of rebirth for both nature and humans.
Some historians also associate this holiday with the Germanic Goddess of light and fertility, Eostre, celebrated in spring festivals. She was a figure connected with eggs (does it remind you of something?) and bunnies. However, the only record of her comes from the English monk Bede in the 8th century, and her link to eggs and bunnies only appeared centuries later, which is why most historians consider this theory uncertain.
From ancient traditions to today’s celebrations
So how did religious beliefs and thousand-year traditions end up as chocolate eggs and carved pumpkin lanterns? Throughout the centuries, different people and cultures have transformed these holidays. As society changed, new meanings were given, and so each person has their own way of keeping them alive.
The jack-o’-lantern (carved pumpkin) comes from an Irish myth in which Stingy Jack, a man who tricked the devil, was doomed to walk the earth. At first, the Irish used to carve turnips and potatoes with scary faces because they believed it would frighten him away. When they immigrated to the USA, they began to do it with pumpkins, as they were easier to find there.
When it comes to dressing up, they believed it was a safe way to protect themselves. But it wasn’t princesses and superheroes costumes; it was all about scary monsters like ghosts and witches, for both children and adults, following the Samhain festival traditions to keep evil spirits away.
Trick-or-treating has its roots in the English tradition of “souling”, in which poor people used to go from door to door offering to pray for the souls of each family’s departed loved ones. And in the Scottish custom of guising, people would also perform tricks, like dancing or telling jokes, in exchange for those treats.
As for those delicious chocolates we exchange on Easter, they are also connected with religious meanings. Throughout time, eggs were seen as a symbol of fertility and rebirth, so people would decorate and gift them to each other at spring festivities.
As eating eggs was forbidden during Lent, it was a blessing, especially for poor people, to eat them after these 40 days, as they were cheaper. The first chocolate egg was sold in 1873 by J.S. Fry & Sons in England, and it was traditionally made with dark chocolate, but over time it gained some variations. Other companies quickly followed their lead.
Even after years and years of new traditions, mixed costumes and meanings, our ancestors are still alive every time we gather around with our family and friends to celebrate the holidays
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The article above was edited and translated by Samantha Coutto.
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