The word "Halloween" is derived from All Hallows Eve, which occurs on November 1. The "All Hollows Day" or "All Saints Day". It is an important date on the Catholic calendar, a time to observe and honor saints.
People believed that the souls of the dead come back to earth to visit their families or friends. People began to call November 1st as a holy or "Hallowed" day. It was to be called Al Hallow's Day. Which was later shortened to what we know today as Halloween.
In the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. This was called Samhain pronounced sow-en). This was the Celtic New Year.
The disembodied spirits of everyone who had died throughout the year would return to seek living bodies to possess for the following year. It was their aterlife or Panati.
On the night of October 31, all those living used to extinguish fires in their homes and make them cold and undesirable. They also dressed in ghoulish costumes and made noisy parades as a way to discourage and frighten away these spirits.
Several stories spak of Celts burning someone at the stake who was perceived to be evil or possessed, as a demonstration to those spirits.
In the first century AD, Romans abandoned the sacrifice of humans in favor of burning effigies.
Over the centuries, as people became less believing in the supernatural, the practices became more ritualized. However people still enjoyed dressing up as: hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches. This became increasingly more ceremonial.
In the 1840's, Halloween traditions were brought to America by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine.
The favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.
Trick-or-Treating is believed to have originated with a ninth-century European custom called "souling". All Souls Day (November 2), early Christians used to walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes". These cakes were made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo after death. People thought that prayers could help hasten a soul's passage to heaven.
Jack O'Lantern's Story is fascinating one about the Irishman named Jack who was a notorious drunkard and trickster.
Halloween has grown out of rituals of the Celts celebrating a new year, from Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans, and the Irish legend of Jack O'Lantern.
Carving Jack O' Lanterns is a Halloween custom that dates back to ancient Ireland, although the first Jack-o-Lanterns were made of turnips, beets or even hollowed out potatoes, not pumpkins. The large orange squashes didn't come into prominence until Irish immigrants settled in the United States, where pumpkins were cheaper and more plentiful than turnips.
Several version of an Irish legend tells of a man named Stingy Jack, who invited the Devil to have a drink. When it came time to pay, he convinced the Devil to change into a sixpence, but instead of paying for the drink Jack pocketed the sixpence and kept it stored beside a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back. Jack made a deal with the Devil before letting him free that the Devil could not harass him. Next Halloween Jack died and was turned back from the Gates of Heaven. He went to the Gates of Hell and the Devil told him to go away, as Jack had made him promise not to claim his soul. Jack didn't want to leave because it was dark and he couldn't find his way. The Devil tossed Jack a glowing coal and Jack put it inside a turnip, and ever since with this "Jack O' Lantern", Stingy jack's lonely soul has been roaming the faces of this earth.
Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.
Although the term "trick or treat," appeared in print only around 1939, its origins could be traced back over 2000 years.
Among the Celts - as well as among the Chinese, the Egyptians, and even the Aztecs - it was thought that the spirits of the dead required food and drink. During the festival of Samhain (discussed in greater detail in the article on Halloween History), the people would leave various articles of food outside to placate the spirits. This was very important, for only the finest mutton legs, vegetables, eggs and poultry - as well as honey and wine - were left outside for the spirits to consume on their way to the netherworld. To supply nothing meant that the hungry and possibly irritated spirit might intrude upon one's house and help itself to one's belongings. Leaving out food that had spoiled was also considered an open invitation to disaster. Therefore, families who faced uncertain diets, often of very low quality, gave what was most precious to them: food. This takes on added implications when we recall that, at that time, food was very difficult to preserve. Moreover, Halloween marked winter's beginning, when food was at its scarcest, and starvation not uncommon. Thus the roaming from door-to-door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of Christianity when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and around, along with fairies, witches, and demons. Food and drink were left to placate them.
As the centuries wore on, people began dressing as these dreadful creatures and performing antics in exchange for offerings of food and drink. This practice, called mumming, evolved into our present trick or treating. To this day, witches, ghosts, and skeleton figures of the dead are among the favorite disguises."
Although the Celtic traditions seems to be the main root, there are probably several origins, mostly Irish. An old Irish peasant practice called for going door to door to collect money, bread cake, cheese, eggs, butter, nuts, apples, etc., in preparation for the festival of St. Columbus Kill.
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