The History of Halloween

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You might call Halloween the one day in the year when we pause to think about the chance of the mystical.

October 31 is Halloween ( also called Hallowe’en or Holloween ). It’s the night that people young and old dress up in costumes and go to Halloween parties. Small kids go’trick or treating.’ They dress up in costumes and traipse from door to door ( hopefully under the control of a responsible adult ) demanding candy or other treats. They knock on doors and yell,’Trick or treat!’ The owners of the homes open the door, admire the costumes, and supply the treat to keep from being duped.

Sadly, it’s also a night when a great amount of damage is done to property. Halloween is one of the most frantic nights of the year for law enforcement.

So how did this strange vacation get started? Samhain was a holiday celebrated by the ancient Celtics. That festival is the foundation of what we know today as Halloween. The Samhain festival took place at the end of the harvest season. Some regard the Samhaim festival as the Celetic New Year, but that is confusing. The ancient Celtics were pagans, and the Samhain festival was a time when they massacred their livestock in order to supply provisions for the winter.

The pagan culture also assumed that on October 31, the barrier between the living and the dead was opened and that the dead were dangerous to the living. They believed on October 31, the dead could damage crops or cause sickness.

There were huge bonfires where the bones of the slaughtered animals were burned. The voters of that ancient culture wore masks and costumes in a scheme to either appease the dead or to imitate them.

Today we don’t slaughter animals or make bonfires to burn their bones as we celebrate Halloween. Most people don’t believe that spirits come back to haunt the living on October 31. We have’haunted houses’ and costume parties. The youngsters go’trick or treating.’

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Article Citation
MLA Style Citation:
Edwards_, Russ D. "The History of Halloween." The History of Halloween. 13 Sep. 2009. uberarticles.com. 13 May 2012 <http://uberarticles.com/holidays/the-history-of-halloween/>.

APA Style Citation:
Edwards_, R (2009, September 13). The History of Halloween. Retrieved May 13, 2012, from http://uberarticles.com/holidays/the-history-of-halloween/

Chicago Style Citation:
Edwards_, Russ D. "The History of Halloween" uberarticles.com. http://uberarticles.com/holidays/the-history-of-halloween/

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