Oct. 31st - The History of Halloween! 🎃👻🍎🍁🥮

Welcome to the final post of my first month-long series! As it’s finally Halloween, I will be discussing the folklore and traditions behind the holiday. Side note, Halloween is on Friday the 31st this year? That’s pretty fun! Enjoy!

Although the term “Halloween” comes from All Hallows’ Eve, it actually originated from an ancient Celtic festival held on November 1st called “Samhain”. This festival marked the end of the summer (harvest season) and beginning of the new year! The belief of Samhain was that on the night prior to the new year, the worlds of the dead and living came together, allowing the dead to walk on the earth once again—reminds me of Día de los Muertos in a way and was practiced on the same night as well! The Celts would wear costumes and light bonfires to ward off the ghosts. 

Roman festivals such as Feralia and Pomona eventually merged with Samhain celebrations over time. Feralia marked the end of Parentalia, a nine-day festival that honored the peoples’ dead ancestors. Pomona was the goddess of orchards (also of fruit trees, gardens, and harvests), as well as the name of the festival that honored apples and nuts. It is generally related to Halloween as it is thought to be where our modern tradition of bobbing for apples originated. 

Moving back to All Hallows’ Eve, it was an 8th-century event created by Pope Gregory III placed on the evening before November 1st as a sort-of Christmas Eve holiday—if-you-will, which in their time was a day of Christian feasts called “All Saints Day“. All Saints Day was followed by “All Souls Day” on November 2nd. 

Now that we’ve covered the traditions of ghosts, costumes and the name itself, let’s get into our favorite part of the holiday—pumpkins and trick-or-treating! In the British Isles during All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, soul cakes (small, round spiced cakes) were given to the poor, who would go door-to-door exchanging them for prayers for their departed loved ones—these people were called “soulers”. This practice was done for hundreds of years and eventually was associated with mainly child-soulers. Therefore, it is widely believed to be the beginning of the evolution of trick-or-treating. 

Later, in the early twentieth century, young people began to play small pranks around their towns. However, it eventually began to get more aggressive with kids practicing vandalism. In response, storekeepers and townsfolk began giving out treats as a way to prevent trickery—by the late 1930s, this had become the trick-or-treating that we know and love today!

Going back to the nineteenth century for a minute, mainly Irish and other Celtic immigrants brought All Hallows’ Eve and Samhain traditions to the Americas. This included the carving of turnips to ward off evil spirits. However, once in America, people found that pumpkins were commonly available and began to carve them instead of turnips!

That is the history of our beloved Halloween holiday! Thank you for reading my October series this year! I will be taking a short break from this blog throughout November to focus on some other projects! 🤐🤫 

I will be back for our holiday series in December! I’ll see y’all then!!

Happy Halloween, everybody! Stay safe, check your candy and share your locations with loved ones. Take precautions especially if you will be celebrating at parties—keep your drinks in your line of vision and DO NOT drink and drive!! Call an uber, friend, or ask the employees at the establishment you are at for help. There are plenty of options in the 2020s rather than driving while under the influence of ANYTHING! Although Halloween is filled with pumpkins and fun, it is still important to ensure your safety during the holidays. I hope you all enjoy the last night of spooky season 2025!

Sincerely, 

        your 21st century poet <3🎃👻