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Happy Halloween!

Posted on Oct. 31, 2006 by Kris Frye

Happy Halloween everyone! 

Because Halloween is a holiday steeped in traditions that have been combined and morphed over the years, I thought I'd give a brief history of how this day came to be what it is. 

The origin of Halloween stems from the Celts and the festival of Samhain (pronounced s-ow-een), or "Summer's End." October 31 was their New Year's Eve; it marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. The Celts believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth that night because the boundary between the worlds of the living and dead became blurred the night before a new year. Huge bonfires were set as protection against mischievous spirits, as well as to commemorate the event, and the Celts wore costumes and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. 

By AD 43, Romans had conquered much of the Celtic territory and, over the course of a few hundred years, two Roman festivals combined with the celebration of Samhain: Feralia, a day late in October the Romans traditionally celebrated to give peace and rest to the dead, and the day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which probably explains how we came to “bob for apples” as a Halloween game. 

By the 800s, Christianity, primarily Catholocism, had spread into the Celtic lands and, in the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV named November 1 All Saints Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. The day was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas, from the Middle English word “Alholowmesse,” meaning All Saint’s Day. The night before All-hallows became known as All-hallows Eve, and, eventually, All Hollow’s Eve or Halloween. 

When England moved from Catholicism to Protestantism, the All Souls’ Day celebrations were prohibited by the crown. However, small groups continued to celebrate and pray for their loved ones, hiding in the fields by the light of torches and bonfires. They also made “soul cakes” which were given to the poor—who, in turn, would offer a prayer for the dead. The poor and children would go “souling,” or going to the homes of the wealthy to ask for soul cakes, fruit and alms. Souling is even mentioned in Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona. 

Later on, in A.D. 1000, the church made November 2 All Soul’s Day, which honors the dead. It was celebrated a lot like Samhain: big bonfires, parades, and dressing up like saints, angels and devils. 

You can see where a mix of all sorts of traditions have come to make Halloween what it is today. In any case, versions of it have been evolving for centuries--though, amazingly, there is a lot of traditions that haven't changed all that much!

Another celebration on Oct. 31, and one I learned about as a child in school, is Reformation Day. It was the day Martin Luther posted the 95 thesis on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. The 95 Thesis were statements discussing several things the Catholic church had in practice that he felt were not right. He meant them as points for discussion, but they came to serve as an agenda for a major reform of the Catholic church and eventually led to the writing of the Augsburg Confession of 1530, which is the first official Lutheran statement of faith.

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