If you’re anything like me you don’t buy into Halloween. Unlike my boss Cathy, who every year dresses up as a witch, covers her house in fake cobwebs and puts balloons at the letterbox to entice all the kids to come for treats, I am more of your Halloween grinch.
No treats here. Luckily our house is hidden from the street at the bottom of a long driveway so the kids don’t even come down and are spared the disappointment.
I’ve always thought of Halloween as an over-the-top and gimicky American celebration. I don’t like the idea of my kids going door-to-door asking strangers for lollies and I think a lot of the older kids take advantage of the tradition.
But one thing I didn’t know is that Halloween is not actually even American in origin.
Halloween is a Celtic tradition; its origins lie in Ireland. The date October 31 marked the end of the year as well as the end of summer and the summer harvest.
Celts believed that on October 31 ghosts or spirits could return to earth and wander freely. To keep the spirits away they held a festival known as Samhain (meaning summer’s end) and built bonfires and burned crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
Jack-o-lanterns were carved out of turnips and put out to scare spirits away, and young men dressed up in white costumes with blackened faces or masks to fool spirits into thinking they were evil spirits as well.
The tradition of trick or treating came about because children and sometimes poor adults would dress up as evil spirits and go door to door begging for food or money in exchange for songs and prayers, often said on behalf of the dead. This was called “souling” and the children were called “soulers”.
Later, with the Christian religion, October 31 became known as All Hallows’ Eve – the day before All Saints’ Day on November 1 – and traditions such as dressing up as evil spirits were modified to include dressing up as angels.
Halloween was introduced to America by Irish immigrants during the 19th century, and it really took off there – it’s often been assumed an American tradition ever since.
