Halloween Homepage

The origins of Halloween date back over 2,000 years ago. It can be traced back to Celtic roots in Ireland and various parts of Europe. The word "Halloween" comes from the day of "All Hallow's Eve", which is October 31st. This day marked the end of Summer and the beginning of winter. This was celebrated with a festival called Samhain, which is pronounced "sah-win", but most people still pronounce it the way it's spelled, which is perfectly fine. People would prepare for the harsh winters by harvesting their crops. They would also partake in ritual traditions like bonfires.

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Trick-or-Treating

These people believed that the barriers between life and death were blurred on this night, and that evil spirits would come from the netherworld to haunt the living. To stop these spirits, people would dress up in scary costumes to frighten the ghosts away. Sometimes, they would leave offerings on their porch so the spirits would leave them be. Modern trick-or-treating is a slightly different story. In the 1900s, children and teenagers would vandalize houses on Halloween. To bribe the youth into leaving their houses alone, adults would offer them candy. If they didn't want the kids to play tricks on them, they had to give them treats!

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Jack-o'-Lanterns

There's an old Irish legend about a man named Stingy Jack. He was forced to wander the earth with only a burning coal inside a carved-out turnip. The Irish folk would carve turnips, light them with a candle, and leave them at their doors to scare away Jack and other evil spirits. But wait, aren't jack-o'-lanterns supposed to be pumpkins? Well, pumpkins weren't introduced into Europe until the late 1400s around the same time Christopher Columbus made his journey to America. Native America grew pumpkins, and Columbus brought seeds back to Europe. From then on, pumpkins would slowly replace turnips to become the de facto jack-o'-lanterns we all know today.

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Day of the Dead

Mexico has a celebration called Day of the Dead that is celebrated on November 1st. All Hallow's Eve leads up to this event, where the people focus less on warding off spirits and more on honoring the memories of their lost loved ones. These festivities include candlelit vigils, reunions, feasts, and music. They also dress up, but usually as skeletons to represent the dead. Contemporary Halloween blends concepts of the traditional Samhain festival with Day of the Dead to create the version we all know today.