Origin
Every year Halloween is celebrated on October 31st. This year will be on a Tuesday. We, as students, are
also lucky to get the day following Halloween off due to a professional development day. Halloween is
thought to come from an ancient Celtic festival, Samhain, a pagan religious festival that lasted three
days that celebrated death and rebirth. The Celts lived throughout what is now Northern Europe.
Samhain, which means summers end, was the turning point of the year between the lighter half
(Summer) and the darker half (Winter). It was similar to a harvest festival. During Samhain they believed
that the barriers between their physical and spiritual worlds would be at their thinnest during this
festival, allowing communication and spirits to pass through.
Each family’s ancestors were honored, invited, and celebrated while harmful spirits were warded off.
Celebrants would dress up as harmful spirits to avoid the real ones. Food and bonfires were a large part
of the festival. Food was prepared for both the living and the dead. The bones of animals were tossed
into a communal fire similar to sacrifices to please deities. Lanterns were made from carved turnups or
potatoes, this is where pumpkin carving comes from. It was also popular to get their fortune told. They
believed that the presence of spirits made it easier to predict the future.
Halloween Matchmaking
When people think about matchmaking they think of Valentines Day, not Halloween. But Halloween has
matchmaking deep in its roots. A now obsolete ritual was fortune telling to tell an eligible young woman
who her future husband might be. One way was for the young woman to name a hazelnut for each of
her suitors and toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that turned to ashes instead of popping or
exploding represented the girl’s future husband (in some versions the opposite was true).
Another popular way of fortune-telling was to give the young woman a sugary drink made of walnuts,
hazelnuts, and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night. This was believed to make her dream about her
future husband.
A young woman could also throw apple-peels over her shoulder and read the initials that the peels
spelled out. Other rituals for this included looking at egg yolks floating in a bowl of water and standing in
Every year Halloween is celebrated on October 31st. This year will be on a Tuesday. We, as students, are
also lucky to get the day following Halloween off due to a professional development day. Halloween is
thought to come from an ancient Celtic festival, Samhain, a pagan religious festival that lasted three
days that celebrated death and rebirth. The Celts lived throughout what is now Northern Europe.
Samhain, which means summers end, was the turning point of the year between the lighter half
(Summer) and the darker half (Winter). It was similar to a harvest festival. During Samhain they believed
that the barriers between their physical and spiritual worlds would be at their thinnest during this
festival, allowing communication and spirits to pass through.
Each family’s ancestors were honored, invited, and celebrated while harmful spirits were warded off.
Celebrants would dress up as harmful spirits to avoid the real ones. Food and bonfires were a large part
of the festival. Food was prepared for both the living and the dead. The bones of animals were tossed
into a communal fire similar to sacrifices to please deities. Lanterns were made from carved turnups or
potatoes, this is where pumpkin carving comes from. It was also popular to get their fortune told. They
believed that the presence of spirits made it easier to predict the future.
Halloween Matchmaking
When people think about matchmaking they think of Valentines Day, not Halloween. But Halloween has
matchmaking deep in its roots. A now obsolete ritual was fortune telling to tell an eligible young woman
who her future husband might be. One way was for the young woman to name a hazelnut for each of
her suitors and toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that turned to ashes instead of popping or
exploding represented the girl’s future husband (in some versions the opposite was true).
Another popular way of fortune-telling was to give the young woman a sugary drink made of walnuts,
hazelnuts, and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night. This was believed to make her dream about her
future husband.
A young woman could also throw apple-peels over her shoulder and read the initials that the peels
spelled out. Other rituals for this included looking at egg yolks floating in a bowl of water and standing in
front of a mirror in a dark room, holding a candle, and looking over their shoulder for the face of their
future husband.
A Scottish tradition was that eligible young men and women were blindfolded and put in a garden to
uproot kale stalks. The piece of kale brought back by each person was analyzed and thought to
determine the factors of their marriage.
Other rituals were more like competitions. One was the first person to find a burr on a chestnut-hunt
would be the first to marry. Another way to find the first to marry was the first successful apple bobber.
Origin of the Name of Halloween
On May 13th, 609 Pope Boniface IV declared a celebration that would be called All Saints Day. It was also
called All-hallows or All-hallowmans. This was a day to honor Christian martyrs and saints. Later Pope
Gregory III moved the celebration to November 1st. The reason is largely believed to be that the church
was attempting to replace the celebration of the dead with a related, church-sanctioned holiday. The
celebrations largely reflected the Samhain celebration. They both celebrated with bonfires and
costumes that reflected the other world and spirits. The offerings of food became offerings to the poor.
Throughout the years All-Hallows Eve evolved into the Halloween that we know and love.
Origin of Trick-or-Treating
Halloween of 1933 is known as Black Halloween. The tricks and pranks had escalated to a point where it
was costing cities millions of dollars. They would destroy light fixtures, set fires, and trip people on
sidewalks. Instead of banning Halloween they decided to create a new tradition. The idea was to offer
treats so that kids would not do tricks.
Origin of Costumes
The old Celtic tradition of dressing as bad spirits evolved under the Christian influence and even more so
when it entered American culture. People in America were fascinated by a holiday centered around
death. They embraced it and wore frightening costumes made up of whatever they had at home. The
anonymity was a large part with the fascination of costumes. The point of dressing up was to be in
disguise. By the 1920s and the 1930s people were holding annual Halloween masquerades aimed at
both children and adults. After the Black Halloween of 1933 Halloween became more commercialized.
The costumes evolved into impersonating people that were shunned by society. This added pirates
homeless people, and gypsies to the common choice of mummies, skeletons, ghosts, and other forms of
death. Over the years the connection to death loosened and opened the way for any costume that could
be imagined.
A Scottish tradition was that eligible young men and women were blindfolded and put in a garden to
uproot kale stalks. The piece of kale brought back by each person was analyzed and thought to
determine the factors of their marriage.
Other rituals were more like competitions. One was the first person to find a burr on a chestnut-hunt
would be the first to marry. Another way to find the first to marry was the first successful apple bobber.
Origin of the Name of Halloween
On May 13th, 609 Pope Boniface IV declared a celebration that would be called All Saints Day. It was also
called All-hallows or All-hallowmans. This was a day to honor Christian martyrs and saints. Later Pope
Gregory III moved the celebration to November 1st. The reason is largely believed to be that the church
was attempting to replace the celebration of the dead with a related, church-sanctioned holiday. The
celebrations largely reflected the Samhain celebration. They both celebrated with bonfires and
costumes that reflected the other world and spirits. The offerings of food became offerings to the poor.
Throughout the years All-Hallows Eve evolved into the Halloween that we know and love.
Origin of Trick-or-Treating
Halloween of 1933 is known as Black Halloween. The tricks and pranks had escalated to a point where it
was costing cities millions of dollars. They would destroy light fixtures, set fires, and trip people on
sidewalks. Instead of banning Halloween they decided to create a new tradition. The idea was to offer
treats so that kids would not do tricks.
Origin of Costumes
The old Celtic tradition of dressing as bad spirits evolved under the Christian influence and even more so
when it entered American culture. People in America were fascinated by a holiday centered around
death. They embraced it and wore frightening costumes made up of whatever they had at home. The
anonymity was a large part with the fascination of costumes. The point of dressing up was to be in
disguise. By the 1920s and the 1930s people were holding annual Halloween masquerades aimed at
both children and adults. After the Black Halloween of 1933 Halloween became more commercialized.
The costumes evolved into impersonating people that were shunned by society. This added pirates
homeless people, and gypsies to the common choice of mummies, skeletons, ghosts, and other forms of
death. Over the years the connection to death loosened and opened the way for any costume that could
be imagined.
