History Of Halloween

The history of Halloween has remained a mystery for many years, and the origin of Halloween can be as confusing as it's history has been formed by many traditions. The history of Halloween can be traced back 2,000 years, having many different sources based upon age-old traditions followed in different countries, especially the United States, Australia, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Scotland, Britain and Canada.

The history of Halloween has its origins in Celtic Ireland, though the word 'Halloween' itself comes from the Catholic Church. The word 'Halloween' was actually formed from 'All Hallow's Eve', which is the day before 'All Saint's Day' (Catholic day of recognition for the saints) on November 1st. Over the years, 'All Hallow's Eve' was contracted and shortened to 'Halloween'. The spirit of festivity and its mysterious fervor has Celtic roots in the history of Halloween festival allowing the dead spirits to pass away to another world.

However, the tradition of trick-or-treating and costumes are a little less tied to the history of Halloween.   The history of Halloween is more easily understood from around a 1000 AD on, as it is more and more isolated in the surviving Celtic territories, such as northern Ireland, where the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemain looses most all of its influence and therein leaving the Celts nothing more than a shadow of the remains of their true cultural identity and religion.

It has been a long tale of ancient peoples and practices that blended over time, through military conquest, culture, religions, mysticism and survival of the human imagination.Thus most of the customs connected with the Day are remnants of the ancient religious beliefs and rituals, first of the Druids and then transcended amongst the Roman Christians who conquered them.  While the history of Halloween explains much about where modern day Halloween customs come from, (the origin of Halloween customs were brought to this country in the 1800's by the Irish) what about the modern day practices of the occults.

However, during the 5th century BC in Celtic Ireland, this same day, October 31st, was the time when summer officially ended and was celebrated as the Celtic New Year. The legend that accompanied the celebration on this day said that the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the year came back looking for living bodies to posses for the next year. The belief of the Celts was that laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to merge with the living world.

On Halloween night, to discourage the spirits from visiting their homes, the people would put out the fires in their homes to make them cold and undesirable. Also, the tradition was to dress in ghoulish costumes and parade around the village making noise in hopes of frightening the spirits away that were still searching for bodies to possess.

As lots of different people from different cultures began to emigrate to the United States in the 1800s, the holidays and traditions were merged, creating what we know as modern day Halloween. Throughout history, Halloween has been known as by other names as well, some of which include 'Hell Night' or 'Devil's Night'. Different areas all have different customs and traditions surrounding the holiday.

One of the traditions that has remained steadfast throughout Halloween's history is the dressing up and wearing of costumes, though today, this is done more out of fun than to discourage spirits. Other customs that have grown out of the holiday include trick-or-treating, parades, and festivals.

Over the years, Halloween has been transformed into more of a family event. Today, most enjoy the night as a time to fellowship with neighbors and to have fun by trick-or-treating or attending parties.

                                          Halloween: The Darkest Night Of the Year