A Brief History of Halloween
by Sherene on Friday, October 31st, 2008
Over 2000 years ago, the Celts celebrated their new year, on November 1st, which marked the end of the harvest season. The Celts believed that on the night before the New Year (Samhain) the veil between the living and the dead blurred, allowing ghosts to haunt the land and damage crops. To avoid being recognized by unearthly spirits, people adorned ghoulish masks and costumes when they ventured out after dark.
European immigrants brought their customs with them to America, but because early New England maintained a strict Protestant belief system, celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited.
Over time, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge as cultures melded. Halloween was more common in Maryland and the southern colonies, with citizens taking part in public harvest celebrations–telling stories of the dead, dancing, singing and telling each other’s fortunes. Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere, but yearly fall festivities were common.
With the arrival of millions of Irish immigrants in America (because of the potato famine of 1846), Halloween finally took hold as a national celebration. Interestingly, the first store bought Halloween costume didn’t become available until the 1930’s.
In addition to wearing costumes, many of today’s other Halloween traditions can be traced back to the ancient Celtic “Day of the Dead”, including bobbing for apples, trick-or-treating, carving vegetables (The Celts originally used turnips, but pumpkins were more readily available to early American immigrants) and drinking cider.
