It’s one of America’s most beloved holidays, but Halloween didn’t get its start in the United States. Travel back in time with us to learn what some of the very first ghostly celebrations looked like. We can guarantee they didn’t include candy or superhero costumes. When you’re done, load up on even more Halloween trivia.
Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2019 occurs on Thursday, October 31. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats.
The Halloween holiday we’ve all come to know and love is a combination of several different celebrations from different cultures and religions at different times in history. The ancient Celtic people celebrated Samhain, marking the end of harvest season and a time when the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and ghosts visited the earth. After the Roman Empire conquered the Celtic peoples, their festivals of Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans honored the passing of the dead, and a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees, were combined with Samhain.
Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world.
Today’s Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the middle Ages, when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into black cats.
