The History of Halloween

ByJames Rogers

Objectives: Students will learn about the origins of Halloween and the different ways it has been observed.

The history of Halloween goes back more than 2,000 years. The earliest celebrations of Halloween were among the Celtic people who lived in the areas which are now Great Britain and Northern France.

The Celts had a holiday called “Samhain.” Samhain was celebrated on November 1, and was described as “the light that loses, the night that wins.” For the Celts this was the beginning of a new year.

October 31 was the last day of the old year. The Celts believed that on the night of October 31, ghosts were allowed to roam the land doing mischief or visiting their families. People celebrated by welcoming them home with special food and drink, or, in the case of the more mischievous ghosts, by lighting bonfires and carrying lanterns made from hollowed-out turnips, into which frightening faces were carved to keep the ghosts away. Sometimes they even dressed up as scary animals to frighten away the ghosts.

The Celts continued with their celebrations until they were conquered by the Romans.

Pope Gregory III decided to switch the date of the religious holiday “All Saints’ Day” and move it to November 1st, to match with the old date of Samhain. He called it “All Hallows Eve.” This meant that some of the traditions of Samhain lived on.

Instead of welcoming ghosts with food and wine, people made “soul cakes” to give to the poor. Instead of dressing up like wild animals, people began to dress up like saints.

The traditions of All Hallows Eve continued into the modern era, and caught on in America in the mid-1800s. Throughout the years the name eventually became Halloween.

They celebrated by bobbing for apples, roasting nuts, and daring each other to dip their hands into a series of bowls while blindfolded.

They carved pumpkins instead of turnips. Instead of dressing up like saints and knocking on doors for soul cakes, they dressed up in the sorts of costumes we wear today (witch, mummy, etc.) and went door-to-door asking for sweets.

What was the name of the Celtic holiday that they celebrated on

November 1st?

1. Allhallows Eve

2. Samhain

3. All Saints’ Day

What did they used to carve instead of pumpkins?

1. Potatoes

2. Apples

3. Turnips

What did people give to the poor when celebrating All

Hallows Eve?

1. Soul Cakes

2. Sweets

3. Scares

AcknowledgementsThe Slide Show information came from a merger of the two lesson plans below:

http://www.kerpoof.com/edu/plans/History_of_Halloween/history_of_halloween_lesson_plan.pdf

http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes-celebrations/halloween.html

The Backgrounds and Gifs pulled from the multiple sites listed below:

http://powerpointfan.blogspot.com/2010/10/free-halloween-powerpoint-backgrounds.html

http://www.marthastewart.com/272904/turnip-jack-o-lanterns

http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2011/10/truth-about-halloween-and-tudor-england.html

http://freehalloweenclipart.blogspot.com/

http://www.mikesfreegifs.com/main4/page_3.html

http://hannahgiveup.tripod.com/history.html