2008 Woodie Awards
Halloween is here
The history...
Kelly Balch
Issue date: 10/20/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Each year, on October 31, millions of children across the country dress-up in costumes and walk the streets for a spooky Trick or Treat fun. But where does all this dressing up and going door to door trick or treating come from.
Halloween originally dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced as sow-in). The Celts, lived in, what is now known as Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France. They lived 2,000 years ago and celebrated their new year on November 1 every year. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. It was a time of year that was often associated with human death.
The Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31st, they celebrated Samhain, which represented when the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. This ultimately led people to cause trouble and damaging crops; Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st as All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely assumed today that the pope was trying an attempt to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a "related church-sanctioned holiday." The celebration was also called All-Hallows or All-Hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2nd All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead.
Halloween originally dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced as sow-in). The Celts, lived in, what is now known as Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France. They lived 2,000 years ago and celebrated their new year on November 1 every year. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. It was a time of year that was often associated with human death.
The Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31st, they celebrated Samhain, which represented when the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. This ultimately led people to cause trouble and damaging crops; Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st as All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely assumed today that the pope was trying an attempt to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a "related church-sanctioned holiday." The celebration was also called All-Hallows or All-Hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2nd All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead.
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