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- Halloween comes from an ancient pagan festival celebrated by Celtic people over 2,000 years ago called Samhain, meaning "summer's end." They believed the festival was a time when the dead could walk among the living.
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Nov 18, 2009 · Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2024 will occur on Thursday, October 31. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when...
- Carving Jack-o’-Lanterns. The tradition of carving Jack-o’-Lanterns originated in Ireland using turnips instead of pumpkins. It is allegedly based on a legend about a man named Stingy Jack who repeatedly trapped the Devil and only let him go on the condition that Jack would never go to Hell.
- Seeing Ghosts. The festival of Samhain marked the transition to the new year at the end of the harvest and beginning of the winter. Celtic people believed that during the festival, spirits walked the Earth.
- Wearing Scary Costumes. In order to avoid being terrorized by all the evil spirits walking the Earth during Samhain, the Celts donned disguises in order to confuse the spirits and be left alone.
- Trick-or-Treating. There is much debate around the origins of trick-or-treating, but generally there are three theories. The first theory suggests that during Samhain, Celtic people would leave food out to appease the spirits traveling the Earth at night.
May 6, 2024 · However, it seems to have developed mostly from Christian feasts of the dead from later in the Middle Ages, including All Saints’ Day on November 1 and All Souls’ Day on November 2. By the 9th century, October 31 was being celebrated as All Hallows’ Eve, later contracted to Halloween, throughout Western Christendom.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nov 1, 2020 · Pope Gregory III established November 1 as All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, a day to honor all saints of the church that have attained heaven. “The evening before All...
The day before the saintly celebration became known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween. Though the holiday began in Celtic regions of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and France, it quickly spread to other parts of the world.
Oct 1, 2021 · The name 'Halloween' derives from All Hallows' Eve, which is the day before All Saints Day (November 1). All Saints Day itself largely was intended to replace the Celtic festive of Samhain (Figure 1). In early, pre-Christian traditions, the time around Halloween was a time when the harvest was brought in and preparations for winter were made.
Feb 16, 2012 · Samhain commenced on the eve of October 31st, and ushered in the Celtic New Year on November 1st. The Celts experienced this as a liminal (threshold) period when the normally strict boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead became mutable.
