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The origins of Halloween

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Masterhawk

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Today is October 31 which is Halloween.

Although Halloween is often considered a pagan holiday, its traditions actually have very Christian origins. It started out as the day before All Saints Day which falls on November 1 and All Souls Day which falls on the day after. The day before All Saints day was called "All Hallows Eve" which eventually became Halloween. These days were in remembrance of the Christians who died; these three days were collectively known as Allhallowtide which began to be celebrated in 609. On these days, it was customary for poor people, usually children, to go door to door to receive soul cakes. While going from door to door The custom of dressing up may have originated from churches which were too poor to display relics of the martyred saints. These churches allowed parishioners to dress up as the dead saints instead.

Halloween does however still have its pagan origins. October 31 was originally a Gailic festival which market harvest season. This festival was called Samhain and it marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter. It was also believed to be the time when dead souls roamed the earth. Jack-o-lanterns as we know them came from this holiday.

Happy halloween
 
Thanks for this.

As a Catholic I'm familiar with the "All Hallow's Eve" reference.
 
In Europe were Halloween is celebrated, they do not trick or treat. They find it odd children would go to a strangers door begging for candy. It must be a distinctly American tradition. Anyone aware of were this paticular tradition came from ?
 
yankintx said:
In Europe were Halloween is celebrated, they do not trick or treat. They find it odd children would go to a strangers door begging for candy. It must be a distinctly American tradition. Anyone aware of were this paticular tradition came from ?
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So according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, it has only been a US tradition since the 1920s but has been/was a tradition in Britain and Ireland going back to the 16th century, which is surprising since I have heard from multiple Europeans that they thought it was a uniquely American tradition. Did it just die out there?
 
Skeptic Bob said:
So according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, it has only been a US tradition since the 1920s but has been/was a tradition in Britain and Ireland going back to the 16th century, which is surprising since I have heard from multiple Europeans that they thought it was a uniquely American tradition. Did it just die out there?
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Thanks, I had read the same thing, which why I asked.

I lived in the UK for over 10 years. The only time I witnessed children trick or treating was on the US military family housing. Now you would get loads of British children taking part, only because they knew it was an American tradition. I lived off base and at no time did I ever have a kid knock on my door looking for free candy lol

I now live in the KSA, and my Saudi friends find the entire holiday perplexing, but interesting.
 
yankintx said:
Thanks, I had read the same thing, which why I asked.

I lived in the UK for over 10 years. The only time I witnessed children trick or treating was on the US military family housing. Now you would get loads of British children taking part, only because they knew it was an American tradition. I lived off base and at no time did I ever have a kid knock on my door looking for free candy lol

I now live in the KSA, and my Saudi friends find the entire holiday perplexing, but interesting.
Click to expand...

That leads me to believe that it died out in the UK at some point. I can’t seem to find out when between the 16th century and now that happened, though.
 
Skeptic Bob said:
That leads me to believe that it died out in the UK at some point. I can’t seem to find out when between the 16th century and now that happened, though.
Click to expand...

Hmm

Perhaps as you said it died out quite some time ago, but odd there is no writing on the subject from that time.

Is trick or treating done in Canada? Maybe one of our fellow Canadian posters can answer that one.
 
yankintx said:
In Europe were Halloween is celebrated, they do not trick or treat. They find it odd children would go to a strangers door begging for candy. It must be a distinctly American tradition. Anyone aware of were this particular tradition came from ?
Click to expand...

I hear that Trick-or-Treating is also a thing in the UK and Ireland, though it started in North America.
 
yankintx said:
Hmm

Perhaps as you said it died out quite some time ago, but odd there is no writing on the subject from that time.

Is trick or treating done in Canada? Maybe one of our fellow Canadian posters can answer that one.
Click to expand...

Yes it is done in Canada, at least English Canada, I can not say about Quebec

As for the origin

The wearing of costumes, or "guising", at Hallowmas, had been recorded in Scotland in the 16th century[18] and was later recorded in other parts of Britain and Ireland.[19] There are many references to mumming, guising or souling at Halloween in Britain and Ireland during the late 18th century and the 19th century. In parts of southern Ireland, a man dressed as a Láir Bhán (white mare) led youths house to house reciting verses—some of which had pagan overtones—in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla', but if they refused to do so, it would bring misfortune.[20] In Scotland, youths went house to house in white with masked, painted or blackened faces, reciting rhymes and often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.[19][21][22] In parts of Wales, peasant men went house to house dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod, or presenting themselves as the cenhadon y meirw (representatives of the dead).[19] In western England, mostly in the counties bordering Wales, souling was common.[12] According to one 19th century English writer "parties of children, dressed up in fantastic costume […] went round to the farm houses and cottages, signing a song, and begging for cakes (spoken of as "soal-cakes"), apples, money, or anything that the goodwives would give them".[23]


Guising at Halloween in Scotland is recorded in 1895, where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.[24] The practice of guising at Halloween in North America is first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.[3]


The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, from Blackie, Alberta:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating
 
Skeptic Bob said:
That leads me to believe that it died out in the UK at some point. I can’t seem to find out when between the 16th century and now that happened, though.
Click to expand...

Maybe it got replaced with celebrating the 5th of November.
 
 
Skeptic Bob said:
That leads me to believe that it died out in the UK at some point. I can’t seem to find out when between the 16th century and now that happened, though.
Click to expand...

Try under "guising". I can't speak for England, it was more a Celtic thing, but it was still big when I was a kid. It wasn't the present day "trick or treat" demanding with menaces, you had to perform a song or recite a poem to get any reward.

Did You Know? - Hallowe'en in Scotland
 
Masterhawk said:
Halloween does however still have its pagan origins. October 31 was originally a Gailic festival which market harvest season. This festival was called Samhain and it marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter. It was also believed to be the time when dead souls roamed the earth. Jack-o-lanterns as we know them came from this holiday.
Click to expand...

Cultural appropriation :)
Overwriting old Pagan holidays with new ones was great for assimilating non-Roman cultures into Christianity.
Thus Eostre became conflated with Pascha/Easter, Yule with the birthday of Christ, and Summer Solstice with whatever Saint fitted, depending on what country you were in.

No different than when other movements attempt to conflate themselves with class, race, sports, sex, flags, colors, etc.
 
Manc Skipper said:
Try under "guising". I can't speak for England, it was more a Celtic thing, but it was still big when I was a kid. It wasn't the present day "trick or treat" demanding with menaces, you had to perform a song or recite a poem to get any reward.

Did You Know? - Hallowe'en in Scotland
Click to expand...

Which is why kids here used to have to say

Trick or treat smell my feet or give me something good to eat
 
HK.227 said:
Cultural appropriation :)
Overwriting old Pagan holidays with new ones was great for assimilating non-Roman cultures into Christianity.
Thus Eostre became conflated with Pascha/Easter, Yule with the birthday of Christ, and Summer Solstice with whatever Saint fitted, depending on what country you were in.
Click to expand...

Most traditional cultural holidays internationally tend to fall at the same times.

Yule-Christmas-Hanukkah, Passover-Easter, etc. New Year, Harvest, Planting, they all tend to follow the seasons. So it is not surprising that most cultures have holidays that reside on top of others.

And for the Saints, the Catholic Church has the Calendar of Saints, where every single day in the year is dedicated to one or more saints.

Today for example is dedicated to Saint Didacus. A Spanish Franciscan hermit of the 15th century.
 
Oozlefinch said:
Most traditional cultural holidays internationally tend to fall at the same times.

Yule-Christmas-Hanukkah, Passover-Easter, etc. New Year, Harvest, Planting, they all tend to follow the seasons. So it is not surprising that most cultures have holidays that reside on top of others.
Click to expand...

And it's not merely noting solstice or another seasonal time, it's logistics. Times of the year when farmers have a break from labor and a stockpile of produce... party time.
 
yankintx said:
Hmm

Perhaps as you said it died out quite some time ago, but odd there is no writing on the subject from that time.

Is trick or treating done in Canada? Maybe one of our fellow Canadian posters can answer that one.
Click to expand...

Yessir, trick or treating is done all over Canada, Quebec included.
 
Oozlefinch said:
Most traditional cultural holidays internationally tend to fall at the same times.
Click to expand...

Sure. But someone will usually still try to claim them.
 
HK.227 said:
Sure. But someone will usually still try to claim them.
Click to expand...

Everyone finishes planting or harvest or winter at the same time. Every group wants their party to be the biggest. It's really no different than a post-prom party popularity contest.
 
ecofarm said:
Everyone finishes planting or harvest or winter at the same time. Every group wants their party to be the biggest. It's really no different than a post-prom party popularity contest.
Click to expand...

Every commercial you see, companies are showing various things, that they want the viewer to associate them with. High tech, beauty, sex, virtue, fun, family, puppies. Political movements try to associate themselves with various groups, in the attempt to make the average person conflate the two. Socialists claim workers, nationalists claim the flag, others claim minorities, and yet others Green. And in prior times, associating one's religion with standard natural phenomena, and thus harnessing the latent religious fervor that was expressed at the associated festivals, would of course be a boon for that religion.

So what you are saying is true; it's a popularity contest. But in spite of the light tone such contests often have, they are usually about power at one level or another.
 
Masterhawk said:
Today is October 31 which is Halloween.

Although Halloween is often considered a pagan holiday, its traditions actually have very Christian origins. It started out as the day before All Saints Day which falls on November 1 and All Souls Day which falls on the day after. The day before All Saints day was called "All Hallows Eve" which eventually became Halloween. These days were in remembrance of the Christians who died; these three days were collectively known as Allhallowtide which began to be celebrated in 609. On these days, it was customary for poor people, usually children, to go door to door to receive soul cakes. While going from door to door The custom of dressing up may have originated from churches which were too poor to display relics of the martyred saints. These churches allowed parishioners to dress up as the dead saints instead.

Halloween does however still have its pagan origins. October 31 was originally a Gailic festival which market harvest season. This festival was called Samhain and it marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter. It was also believed to be the time when dead souls roamed the earth. Jack-o-lanterns as we know them came from this holiday.

Happy halloween
Click to expand...

Samhain was practiced in Ireland.
 
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