Halloween is one of America's favorite holidays, but what's the real story behind the tricks and treats of Halloween?
Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition.
Halloween, or the ancient Samhain traditions is dated back to Celtic harvest festival. The Celts who lived in Ireland 2, 000 years ago celebrated their new year on November 1 and they used the day to mark the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.
According to TheCelticTimes, Celts believed that on the night before their new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead become blurred and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
The Celts who believed in natural world, thought that in addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests to make predictions about the future. These prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction to them during the long, dark winter, hence the celebration.
Halloween
In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III (731–741) designated November 1 as a day to remember all saints as well as all martyrs, All Saints’ Day. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity spread into Celtic lands, the All Saint's Day gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites.
All Saints' Day is celebrated similarly to the Celtic festival of Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration is also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion was called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating.
In a number of countries around the world, the ancient Celtic festival or Halloween has become less about literal ghosts and ghouls and more about ushering in the winter season with gatherings, costumes, celebration and sweet treats.
Sources/photos: TheCelticTimes, Wikipedia, History