Trick-Or-Treat

I meant to post this blog a couple of days ago, but I suppose better late than never...

My favorite holiday is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I thought I would look into the real origins of Halloween to see why it is that we feel the need to dress in costumes and eat ridiculous amounts of candy one day out of every year.

An article that I found on The History Channel website states that the concept of Halloween began 2,000 years ago. The Celts celebrated their New Year on November 1st because October 31st was considered the end of summer and November was the beginning of winter. The cold temperatures and darkness that resulted from the days being shorter during this time of year led people to associate winter with death. They believed that on the last day of the year, the barriers separating the living and the dead were lifted so that ghosts could return to the Earth. The Celts wore costumes, burned crops, and made animal sacrifices to their gods on this day and it became a traditional celebration.

As Christianity spread in the 7th century, the pope declared November 1st All Saints' Day to diminish the negative connotations that went along with the coming of the New Year and October 31st eventually became All-hallow's Eve from the Middle English word for All Saints Day, Alholowmesse. The day continued to be one of celebration with costumes and parades much like the holiday that we know and love today.