Halloween, also known as "All hallows eve" can be traced back more than two thousand years to a pre-Christian Celtic festival known as "Samhain". Halloween (October 31st) is the night when everyone dresses up as their greatest fantasy or their worst nightmare and goes door to door saying the world renowned phrase "trick or treat". Everyone wanders the streets collecting candy on this wonderful holiday without knowing the history behind it, or how the holiday even began, but how did Halloween begin? There is plenty of misconception to Halloween. Many people believe Halloween has to do heavily with religion, witchcraft, bad doings, and even "Satan" himself. In reality the beginnings of Halloween has only a little to do with religion. The beginning
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Samhain was the day for townsfolks to gather resources for winter, as well as bring their animals back from the pastures. There was a belief that this was the day when spirits of the dead would finally cross over. During the celebration townsfolks would light bonfires and dress up in costumes to ward off any roaming ghosts. Ireland also has an intriguing legend about warding off roaming spirits. This legend is also the very beginning of "Jack-o-lanterns"! Legend has it Ireland was home to a drunken farmer whose dealings with the devil led him to be turned away at the gates of both "Heaven" and "Hell" after he died. Forced to wander the depths of purgatory, Jack made an O' lantern from a turnip and a lump of burning coal inside to guide his lost soul. Pretty soon every community everywhere in Ireland was crafting their own turnip lamps to scare him and other wayward spirits away. This tradition soon evolved from turnips to pumpkins after Irish immigrants found the orange veggie sprouting in abundance in North …show more content…
By the late 1800's, it was considered a tradition to play tricks on Halloween. The pranks included; egging houses, opening farmers gates, tipping over outhouses, etc. But by the early 1900's the pranking had grown so drastically out of hand that Halloween was becoming less fun year by year because it was becoming more of a cleanup effort after the towns children's "pranks". We may not have a Halloween today if it were not for someone by the name of, Elizabeth Krebs. Elizabeth Krebs was the president of Hiawatha, Kansas's local garden club. When Elizabeth woke up November 1st , 1912, she found that her beautiful award-winning garden had been demolished by Halloween pranksters. Elizabeth found that there were also reports of fences having been obliterated, egged houses, and smashed windows. Elizabeth was extremely displeased and set out to make a difference, so she put together a plan to test out the upcoming Halloween. The next year Elizabeth threw a huge extravagant party in her own home with fun games, and of course sweets! Elizabeth invited all of the children and a lot showed up. Because of the large turnout Elizabeth believed she had saved the holiday, but when she awoke the next morning she realized she was wrong. There were several reports of demolished gardens as well as a mail wagon set on fire! Upset but not willing to give up
Samhain was the day for townsfolks to gather resources for winter, as well as bring their animals back from the pastures. There was a belief that this was the day when spirits of the dead would finally cross over. During the celebration townsfolks would light bonfires and dress up in costumes to ward off any roaming ghosts. Ireland also has an intriguing legend about warding off roaming spirits. This legend is also the very beginning of "Jack-o-lanterns"! Legend has it Ireland was home to a drunken farmer whose dealings with the devil led him to be turned away at the gates of both "Heaven" and "Hell" after he died. Forced to wander the depths of purgatory, Jack made an O' lantern from a turnip and a lump of burning coal inside to guide his lost soul. Pretty soon every community everywhere in Ireland was crafting their own turnip lamps to scare him and other wayward spirits away. This tradition soon evolved from turnips to pumpkins after Irish immigrants found the orange veggie sprouting in abundance in North …show more content…
By the late 1800's, it was considered a tradition to play tricks on Halloween. The pranks included; egging houses, opening farmers gates, tipping over outhouses, etc. But by the early 1900's the pranking had grown so drastically out of hand that Halloween was becoming less fun year by year because it was becoming more of a cleanup effort after the towns children's "pranks". We may not have a Halloween today if it were not for someone by the name of, Elizabeth Krebs. Elizabeth Krebs was the president of Hiawatha, Kansas's local garden club. When Elizabeth woke up November 1st , 1912, she found that her beautiful award-winning garden had been demolished by Halloween pranksters. Elizabeth found that there were also reports of fences having been obliterated, egged houses, and smashed windows. Elizabeth was extremely displeased and set out to make a difference, so she put together a plan to test out the upcoming Halloween. The next year Elizabeth threw a huge extravagant party in her own home with fun games, and of course sweets! Elizabeth invited all of the children and a lot showed up. Because of the large turnout Elizabeth believed she had saved the holiday, but when she awoke the next morning she realized she was wrong. There were several reports of demolished gardens as well as a mail wagon set on fire! Upset but not willing to give up