History of Halloween: Jack-O-Lanterns, Trick-or-Treating & More

Happy Halloween! I hope that your day is full of frightful fun. We celebrate this day each October 31st, but do you know where the roots of this spooky celebration are derived? 

Halloween finds its origin in Samhain (pronounced sow-in), which was an ancient harvest festival that was held at the end of the Celtic year. The event marked the end of summer and the start of winter and it was said that spirits of the dead came on the evening of the festival to play tricks and damage crops. Druids (Celtic priests) would make predictions for the future during the bonfire, where they sacrificed crops and animals to the spirits, while wearing costumes consisting of animal heads and skins.

By 800 A.D., Christianity had spread into Celtic lands and during the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day. It is believed that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic Samhain festival of the dead with a church-sanctioned holiday. Later, All Saints Day was renamed "All Hallows" and thus the day of Samhain (Oct. 31st) began to be called "All Hallows Eve," and eventually shortened to "Hallowe'en." 

Jack-O-Lanterns

The first Jack-O-Lanterns were hollowed-out turnips, beets or potatoes; not pumpkins.

An Irish legend tells of a man named Stingy Jack, who invited the Devil to have a drink. When it came time to pay, he convinced the Devil to change into a sixpence, but instead of paying for the drink, Jack pocketed the money and kept it stored beside a silver cross, and this prevented the Devil from changing back.

Jack made a deal with the Devil before letting him free that the Devil could not harass him. The next year, Jack died and was turned back from the Gates of Heaven. He went to the Gates of Hell and the Devil told him to go away. Jack didn't want to leave because it was dark and he couldn't find his way. The Devil tossed Jack a glowing coal and Jack put it inside a turnip: the Jack O' Lantern.

Trick-or-Treating

It was once common for people to leave food out on a table as a treat for spirits believed to be out on Halloween. In England, people went house-to-house souling, which meant asking for small breads called soul cakes in exchange for prayers. In some areas of the United Kingdom and Ireland, people went mumming (parading in masks) on Halloween. Groups of masked adults would go door-to-door asking for food and drink in return for a performance or song. Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona, when Speed accuses his master of "puling like a beggar at Hallowmas."

The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America was in 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported that the smaller children were to go street guising on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs.

The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" was in an Alberta, Canada newspaper in 1927:

Hallowe’en provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun. No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels, etc., much of which decorated the front street. The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word “trick or treat” to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.

Witches and Black Cats

Witches and black cats are common images during Halloween. According to folklore, witches would gather each year on Halloween, arriving on broomsticks, to celebrate a party hosted by the Devil. Witches would cast spells on unsuspecting people and transform themselves into different forms.

Many early American settlers brought with them legends and superstitions about witches, which combined with the beliefs of Native Americans who believed in evil spirits. The black cat has often been associated with witches because it was believed that a witch could shape shift into a cat. Others believed the cats were the spirit of the dead.

Bobbing for Apples

Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead on Feralia, a day in late October. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is now sometimes practiced on Halloween.

What are you doing this Halloween? Will you dress up?
What are some traditions of your own on this most ghoulish of days?