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| The History of Halloween |
| Another name for the holiday we call Halloween is Samhain. Going back 2000 years, the Celts, who inhabited the areas of the United Kingdom, Ireland and northern France celebrated November 1st at the first day of the new year. On the evening before the new year, October 31st, the Celts believe that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was at it’s thinnest. They called that day Samhain, and felt that on that night the souls of the dead could return to earth. As well as those spirits causing mischief for the living, the Celts also believed that the thinness of the veil made it easier for their priests, the Druids, to make predictions for the future. These predictions were a great source of comfort to the Celts during the long, hard winter. In celebration of Samhain, the Celts built large bonfires to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to their gods. In honor of the occasion, the Celts wore costumes, mostly consisting of animal skins and heads, and tried to tell each other’ s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they would re-ignite their previously doused hearth fires with torches lit from the sacred bonfire, to help protect them through the coming winter and the beginning of their new year. The Roman’s had conquered most the Celtic territories by 43 AD, and during the 400 years they ruled the Celtic lands, the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain was combined with Feralia and the day to honor Pomona, two traditional Roman holidays. Pomona was the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol used for Pomona was an apple, and her celebration was incorporated into Samhain and Halloween with the game of bobbing for apples and decorating candy apples. Feralia was a day in late October when the Roman’s traditionally venerated the passing of the dead. |
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