Hallowe’en has increasingly become one of the most popular celebrations in the UK, with families enjoying dressing up in ghoulish outfits and going trick or treating, and holding Hallowe’en street parties, too. The days of ‘ducking apples’ are long gone!
Name
The name Hallowe’en, an apparent conjunction of All Hallows Eve, comes from the evening celebration of Allhallowtide, which was a festival dedicated to remembering the dead, saints (or hallows) and martyrs.
The celebration of the dead seems to have warped slightly over time and become linked with the notion of living dead and ghost stories, rather than marking their passing.
Celtic origins
Before the Christianisation of the western world, it’s believed that Hallowe’en traditions Spooks, sparkles, gunpowder and ghouls had their foundations in an ancient Celtic (Old Welsh and Gaelic) festival, which was celebrated around harvest time. This tradition was known as Samhain and marked the arrival of the darker half of the year.
Christianisation
Christians adopted the Samhain festivals as their own, but for slightly different reasons. It marked the evening before All Hallows Day (which was celebrated a day either side) – a time where saints (also call hallows) were celebrated and the dead remembered.
The Roman calendar had a similar festival, held in May, but Pope Gregory IV saw this event switched in around 609AD to the date of the traditional Samhain.
All Hallows Eve had made it into the church calendar by the time America was being colonised (although Puritans opposed it, along with Christmas). By the mid-19th century, it had become a mainstream festival in both the UK and USA. Hallowe’en why we celebrate the scary
Modern changes
Today, people celebrate Hallowe’en by dressing as scary characters (though this has changed in recent years and costumes can generally just be fancy dress), and children go out trick or treating.
The dressing up comes from a tradition of “guising”, in which people would dress up as creatures they feared, showing their God was a match for Satan and his demons. This has since evolved into dressing up as superheroes or horror movie characters.
Trick or treating is said to originate from a time where youngsters would go from house to house and ask people for “soul cakes” in exchange for the child then praying for that person’s soul. A nice idea and a lot less brutal than giving sweets in fear of being egged.
The modern tradition of funny costumes and gory films has come a long way from its religious beginnings.
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