Halloween. A celebration that might be just a tad more famous in America than here, but in recent years it has also been celebrated enthusiastically by us. You’ve probably been busy for days looking for the perfect outfit or the scariest makeup. But when we at the editorial team did a quick round to ask who knew how Halloween actually originated, we found out that we really had no clue. High time to dive into the books and give you (and ourselves) a little history lesson.
The night of the dead takes us back to a time about 2000 years ago. The Celts celebrated New Year on November 1 instead of January 1, and on that day they believed there was no boundary between life and death. They called it ‘Samhain’ and this was the day when spirits returned to Earth. These spirits could predict the future and therefore had to be rewarded. Very Game of Thrones-like...
To not let it take too long, we immediately fast forward to the 7e century. The Romans were now in power and the celebration to honor the dead was henceforth called All Saints. You saw bonfires, parades, and people dressed as saints, angels, or devils. They did this so they wouldn’t be recognized by the negative spirits of their past (we know better, of course). All Saints was often colloquially referred to as All Hallows, which means that the day before, October 31, was from then on called All Hallows’ Eve.
After a flood of immigrants coming to the US, Halloween became an increasingly popular celebration. Americans began dressing up in costumes and went door to door to collect money or food (what we now know as ‘trick or treat’). And somewhere in those decades, an evening originally meant to honor the dead turned into a day when it’s okay for a girl to prance around in a tiny outfit.
Halloween has since become a creative outlet for people like Heidi Klum, a competition to look as tacky as possible for a Paris Hilton, or just a fun evening of stuffing your face with candy and watching as many horror movies as possible. We can’t help it, but we love Halloween. See you tonight?
Halloween. A time of celebration and a time of superstition. Found smack dab right in the middle of fall and winter, life and death and abundance and scarcity. Nowadays Halloween is characterized by trick-or-treating and outdoing everyone with costume originality. But ask any random Halloweener (pun intended) about its origin and guaranteed you’ll get a multitude of oblivious and clueless Batman and slutty nurse clad party goers.
So what’s the story behind the night of the dead? Well it dates back to nearly two thousand years ago when the Celts (the Irish and Brits) celebrated their new year on the first of November rather than January and on that day they believed that the boundary between life and death was non existent. ‘Samhain’ is what they named it and it was believed to be the one time of the year that ghosts returned to Earth. Very Game of Thrones-esque. But the Celts thought that these ghosts were capable of predicting the future and thus, should be honored.
Fast forward to the 7th century. After having been overthrown by the Roman Empire back in the day, the Celtic territory was now run by the Romans but the celebration to honor the dead was still intact yet it was now referred to as the ‘All Saints’ Day.’ The celebration stayed similar to that of Samhain; bonfires, parades and people dressed up as either saints, angels or devils. Fun fact: they believed that by dressing up, they wouldn’t be recognized by the negative ghosts of their pasts. All Saints Day was often referred to as All-hallows or All-hallowsmas which derived from the Middle English Alholowmesse aka All Saints’ Day. And so the day before, October 31ste, was known as All-hallows Eve. Eventually known as Halloween.
Long story short. After a flood of immigrants in the US, most of which were Irish, back in the early 1800’s, they helped popularize the celebration of Halloween. Americans started dressing up in costumes and dropping by houses asking for food and money which in today’s day and age we refer to as ‘trick-or-treating.’ And somewhere along those dozens of years of celebration, an evening meant to celebrate the lives of those who passed turned into the one day in a year it is acceptable for a girl to parade around in a skimpy outfit.
And so now back to the 21ste century. Halloween, the celebration loved by many, has become a creative outlet for people like Heidi Klum, a competition to look as tacky as possible for people like Paris Hilton or just a fun filled night stuffing your face with candy and watching horror movies. So what will you be wearing to avoid being haunted by the ghosts of your past?
