If you know Halloween for the free sweets, pumpkin carving, mildly inappropriate costumes and not much else, then you’re not alone. The spooky tradition actually goes back thousands of years and has an interesting history behind it. Her Campus Nottingham rounds up the origins of the famous holiday and why we still celebrate today.
Historians believe that the 31st October holiday can be traced back to the Gaelic festival of Samhain, meaning summer’s end. A whopping 2000 years ago, people would gather at an annual end of harvest festival, which had supernatural and religious elements. The importance of this festival to the Halloween we know and love today however is disputed. Some experts insist there is not enough evidence, whilst others believe the festival’s feast was in homage to the God of the dead, Saman.
Another of Halloween’s influences is thought to come from the Christian tradition. Halloween is celebrated the day before All Hallow’s Day and All Souls’ Day, (therefore giving the holiday its name variation – All Hallow’s Eve), something that was put into place by the Pope way back in 835AD. When we reach the 12th century the holiday seems to get a bit more recognisable – with bell ringing for those in purgatory, street criers wearing black, and fire (either bonfires or candles) was used to guide the souls. Creepy stuff.
So where does the US come into this? Our friends across the pond are often thought to be the ones who do Halloween the best, but actually didn’t celebrate it at all until mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century. The traditions and customs of Halloween remained in immigrant communities for some time though due to the Pagan roots and perceptions of the holiday, which were strongly opposed by the devout Protestants of some US states. It’s only in the 1920s and 1930s that we see some of Halloween’s most well-known traditions such as parades and parties emerge.
Where does trick-or-treating come from?
Maybe we’re now a bit too old for this part of Halloween, but it remains a key part of the Halloween celebrations for children across the world. The tradition has its origins in Mumming which involved going to doors to perform little skits in costume, and Guising from Ireland and Scotland in the 1800s when children would visit homes in hope of cakes, fruit, and money.
And what’s with the costumes?
Zombie, Witch, Skeleton? People go all out when it comes to costumes on this day, and it is thought that this comes from way back in the Samhain (remember that?) festival times. Animal skins and heads were often worn during the ceremonies, which may have influenced the obligatory costume wearing of today. Halloween parties and mass costume wearing became popular in the early 20th century, when the act of trick-or-treating became mainstream.
Pumpkins?
Pumpkin carving also comes from the Guising tradition of Ireland and Scotland, when vegetables would be carved out and lit up in order to warn away evil spirits. However in these two countries it is traditional to use the turnip, as opposed to the better-known pumpkin. The first recorded use of a pumpkin for Halloween was in the US in 1837, and was probably switched up due to the being bigger and easier to carve than the original turnip. Who’d have thought that we could well be carving up turnips en-mass?
Photo Sources:
http://hopelies.com/2011/10/30/genre-halloween-special-trick-r-treat-the-ultimate-halloween-tale/
http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/jacob/level-b/are-you-ready-to-know-the-truth/
Edited by Caroline Chan