The History of Halloween
Halloween, celebrated each year on October 31, originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death.
The Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
By the 9th century, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted older Celtic rites. The church designated November 1 as All Saints Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. The celebration was also called All-hallows, and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve, eventually becoming Halloween.
The tradition of Halloween was brought to America by the Irish and Scottish immigrants during the colonial period, but did not become popular until the second half of the nineteenth century, when a new wave of Irish immigrants came to America as a result of the Irish Famine.