by April May Maple

Created on: October 05, 2009   Last Updated: March 21, 2010

As fall approaches, stores fill their isles with candy, costumes and an array of black and orange, frightful fun. This is when one starts deciding what they want to be and how best to celebrate this terrifying time of year, but how did Halloween begin and evolve into the horror fest we all love?

Halloween has its roots in the Celtic holiday Samhain. Celebrated at the end of harvest season and when they slaughtered their livestock for winter, the Celtics believed that this was when the boundary dividing the living world from the dead dissolved. The Celts celebrated with large bonfires, where they sacrificed crops and livestock to appease the dead. Young men donned veils or black masks to placate or copy the dead.

The Celtic celebrations are not the only ancient celebrations that influence Halloween. When the Romans conquered most of the Celtic territories, the holiday morphed to include their beliefs. Two roman holidays influenced our Halloween, Feralia and a day to honor Pomona. Feralia was a holiday celebrated in late October that the Romans commiserated their dead on. Pomona was the goddess of fruit and trees and the apple was her symbol. It is not hard to see how bobbing for apples and candy apples became associated with the day.

In the 800's, Pope Boniface IV moved All Saints Day from May to November 1st in hopes of replacing the Celtic holiday celebrating the dead with a similar Christian holiday. The term Halloween is derived from All Hollows Even, another name for All Saints Day. To celebrate, they had bonfires and parades where folks dressed up as saints, angels and devils.

No Halloween celebration would be complete without jack-o-lanterns. These festive pumpkins bedeck doorstops worldwide. The story of the jack-lantern can be traced back to a rather greedy, drunk Irish farmer named Stingy Jack. He tricked the devil into climbing in a tree trunk then sealed him inside by carving a cross into the trunk. The devil cursed him to wander the night forever with only a turnip with a candle inside for light. Due to the availability and ease of  carving pumpkins instead of a turnip, the tradition evolved into what it is today.

Ghosts have always had a role in the celebration but originally they were not so malevolent. People would leave treats on their front porch for these spirits in hopes that would bless them through the winter and even help them find love. Thanks to modern cinema, ghosts are not looked at so favorably. Instead we envision spirits as frightful as the horror movies portray.

Halloween has changed a lot along the way. It's predecessors have left their imprint and blended quite nicely into a wonderful holiday that is fun and enjoyable for all. This Halloween enjoy yourself knowing the history behind the holiday.

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