The History of Halloween
Why do we celebrate Halloween? When Halloween is mentioned today what comes to mind is candy, costumes, trick-or-treating, and mischief. But Halloween was celebrated very differently when it originated.
The first form of Halloween was believed to originate 2,000 years ago from the Celts, who were located in what is today, Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France. Their celebration called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) is translated to mean “summer’s end”, it was the beginning of the Celtic New Year on November 1 (“History of Halloween”). Samhain was a time where they moved their herds and harvested the crops. It was the most celebrated holiday among the Celts. During Samhain, it was rumored to be the night where the dead came to life as ghosts and would interact with the living on their way to the otherworld (Santino). The Celts believed the ghosts had the ability to destroy their crops and would make it easier for the Druids, Celtic priests, to give a prediction about their futures. The predictions by the Druids were very important to the Celts because it gave them hope to get them through the winter. As part of the celebration, they would wear costumes …show more content…
But they did have annual autumn festivities, which included dancing, singing, stories of the dead, and fortune telling. Halloween did not become a wide spread holiday until the Irish Potato Famine of 1846 forced many Irish immigrants to move to America and they brought with them the tradition of Halloween. Their traditions included going from house to house asking for food and money and dressing in costumes. Halloween is known for its superstitions and in early American women took it as a chance to find out who their future husband may be. The apple peelings may fall into the shape of his initials or if they stood in front of a mirror in the dark his face may appear (“History of
Why do we celebrate Halloween? When Halloween is mentioned today what comes to mind is candy, costumes, trick-or-treating, and mischief. But Halloween was celebrated very differently when it originated.
The first form of Halloween was believed to originate 2,000 years ago from the Celts, who were located in what is today, Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France. Their celebration called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) is translated to mean “summer’s end”, it was the beginning of the Celtic New Year on November 1 (“History of Halloween”). Samhain was a time where they moved their herds and harvested the crops. It was the most celebrated holiday among the Celts. During Samhain, it was rumored to be the night where the dead came to life as ghosts and would interact with the living on their way to the otherworld (Santino). The Celts believed the ghosts had the ability to destroy their crops and would make it easier for the Druids, Celtic priests, to give a prediction about their futures. The predictions by the Druids were very important to the Celts because it gave them hope to get them through the winter. As part of the celebration, they would wear costumes …show more content…
But they did have annual autumn festivities, which included dancing, singing, stories of the dead, and fortune telling. Halloween did not become a wide spread holiday until the Irish Potato Famine of 1846 forced many Irish immigrants to move to America and they brought with them the tradition of Halloween. Their traditions included going from house to house asking for food and money and dressing in costumes. Halloween is known for its superstitions and in early American women took it as a chance to find out who their future husband may be. The apple peelings may fall into the shape of his initials or if they stood in front of a mirror in the dark his face may appear (“History of