Halloween History

What do we actually know about Halloween? Yes, we know it is a holiday were women dress in attire which we can questionable call clothing. We know Candy is given out to trick or treaters or the dentist gives you sugar free candy which you give to your grandparents or worse the dentist gives you an apple. What do we know about the History of Halloween? Probably next to nothing, so let’s go into the history.

The holiday originated with the Celts (Irish). Not only did the Irish give you the Holiday, but also the whiskey you will down later today. Originally, the Celts moved cattle and livestock to their winter pastures and crops where harvested and stored. It was a harvest holiday marking the beginning of winter. Bobbing for apples (which determined who would get married next) and carving of fruits and vegetables started during this harvest celebration. This sounds unimportant, but is dressing up a dog important. No, but that doesn’t stop American’s from spending $350 million dressing up their dogs. Why dress up as a dog? A dog is a costume for a bunch of people except a dog actually looks like a dog.

Anyway, the Celts named the day Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) because they knew it would be changed to something easy to pronounce. It was a day where the souls of those who died that year wandered the earth in order to get to the afterlife. The Celts left out sacrifices of animals, fruits, and vegetables (some souls are vegetarian). In addition, in order to go out at night people dressed up so the ghosts would not know they weren’t a ghost. How dumb did they think ghosts were? This reeks of a polish like joke. How many Irish does it take to trick a ghost?

The Catholic Church came to the Emerald Isle and things began to change. They changed the name to All Saints Day or All Hallows. The day before became All Hallows Eve was eventually dumbed down to Halloween. The Catholics decided based on the guidance of Pope Gregory that instead of denouncing a lands traditions change them to make them Catholic. Don’t worry, the church did less moral things in the 20^th century. The Catholic Church decided to tell people that there old Priest, Druids (whose activities included poetry, science, and scholastics), were evil. The sure sound evil. How dare they educate? Only when you are dumb are you corruptible. The Irish believed them and Celtic deities diminished in status and became fairies or leprechauns (now you know why you should not steal lucky Charms, you are stealing from a god). These creatures were deemed evil. I wonder if breathing was once evil for the Catholic Church. Eventually, people began dressing like the evil creatures performing antics in exchange for food and drink (It’s Ireland it was drink).

If you are American, then you are wondering why do I come into play? Halloween didn’t make its way to America until the Irish and Scottish made it to the States. Random note: The Pumpkin which we hold in such a high standard is actually a native of Mexico. You see what happens when we open up the border.