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History of Hallowe’en and Samhain

31st October 2017 Posted by: Becca Fadden

IT’S that time of year again, when witches, ghosts and ghouls come out to play and celebrate All Hallows Eve (Hallowe’en) on the 31st October. Modern-day Hallowe’en involves dressing up in scary costumes and fancy dress, with children going trick or treating around local houses. But how did this spooky celebration come about? Let’s find out…

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The origins of this festival can be traced back to the Celtic festival of Samhain, nearly 2000 years ago. The year was determined by the growing seasons with Samhain marking the end of Summer and the beginning of Harvest, in other words, it symbolised the end of the world of the living and the beginning of the world of the dead. The Celts believed that on the 31st October, ghosts of the dead would visit the land of the living and cause havoc, so large bonfires were built in each village to keep these spirits away. 

Centuries later, when Christianity was the major religion of the country, people began to celebrate the Christian festivals, including ‘All Saints Day’ otherwise known as ‘All Hallows Day’ – a day to celebrate those who had died for their beliefs. While this was originally celebrated in May, Pope Gregory moved this to November 1, in an attempt to replace Samhain with a more religious version of the festival. Therefore marking October 31 as ‘All Hallows Eve’. 

Many considered this day to be the most evil, with spirits of the dead visiting the living. They were scared that these spirits would hurt them so they began to dress up in scary costumes to resemble ghosts and other evil creatures, in the hope that the spirits would think they were one of them and not hurt them. This started the tradition of Halloween fancy dress. 

As the popularity of the festival grew, Europeans who had emigrated to America spread the word of Halloween, and this allowed for more Halloween traditions to being. For example, Europeans made lanterns out of turnips, but due to pumpkins being more popular in America and easier and bigger to carve into, they instead created Jack ‘o lanterns – something which has now been adopted worldwide. 

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The tradition of ‘Trick or treating’ is another popular Halloween activity, in which children dress up in scary costumes and knock at local houses asking people if they would like a trick – in which the children would play a practical joke on the house, or a treat – an offering of sweets from the homeowner in return for no tricks. This is thought to be originated from the Christian tradition of All Souls’ Day on November 2nd, the day following All Saints Day. On this day, poor villagers would go house to house and receive sweet treats and food, in return for offering to pray for that household’s dead relatives. 

Nowadays Halloween is all about scary films, dressing up in horrifying or hilarious costumes and having parties decorated with a range of spooky paraphernalia, and it is an especially exciting time for students, with universities worldwide hosting themed events that are for all! 


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