The Origin and History of Halloween

[Music] Halloween a spooky time of the year when we're all carving pumpkins putting on our scary costumes and going out to trick-or-treat Halloween is one of America's favorite holidays yet you might be surprised to know Halloween actually has its roots in the ancient Celtic Festival of sowin a pagan religious celebration to welcome the Harvest at the end of summer when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts so how did we adopt the spooky Celtic celebration while fast forward a few centuries when Christianity spread to Ireland and the rest of the British

Isles the Christian Church took it upon themselves to replace the Celtic religion and convert the salts by readily adapting to their Pagan beliefs practices and symbolisms into the Christian faith several Christian popes attempted to replace pagan holidays like Sawan with their own religious observances and the 18th century Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as a time to honor Saints by 1000 A.D All Souls day on November 2 served as a time for The Living to pray for the souls of the dead and the night before November 1 October 31st became All Hallows Eve which later

became Halloween [Music] and as time went on Halloween continued to evolve into what it is today so here is a look at the origins of some of the classic Halloween traditions we enjoy so much [Music] first off why black and orange the traditional Halloween colors of black and orange actually Trace back to the Celtic Festival of sauwin for the South's black represented the death of Summer while orange symbolized the Autumn harvest season [Music] seeing ghosts the Festival of Sawan marked the transition to the new year at the end of the Harvest and beginning of Winter

the Celts believed during this Festival the spirits descended and walked upon the Earth later on Christian missionaries introduced All Souls day on November 2 which perpetuated the idea of the living coming into contact with the dead around the same time of the year wearing scary costumes since the South believed Spirits would roam the Earth on this night in order to avoid falling into Harm's Way by any evil spirit they Don disguises so that they would be mistaken as Spirits themselves and left alone lighting candles and bonfires this too went hand in hand with all the

preparation the songs took for the Knights of zawin bonfires were used to light the way for Souls seeking the afterlife these days lighting candles have generally replaced the large traditional Blazers foreign trick-or-treating there is much of a debate around the origins of trick-or-treating but generally there are three theories the first Theory suggests that during someone an extra place was set at the table to serve as an offering to deceive loved ones in addition food was placed outside near the doorway to appease bothersome Spirits traveling the Earth at night who might otherwise play a trick on

the inhabitants of the house such as tipping over containers of milk over time people began to dress as these unearthly beings in exchange for similar offerings of food or drink the second theory speculates that trick-or-treat stems from the Scottish practice of geysing which is a secular version of souling during the Middle Ages generally children and poor adults would collect food and money from local homes in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls day geysers drop the prayers in favor of non-religious practices with the inclusion of songs jokes and other tricks foreign Theory argues

that modern American trick-or-treating stems from Ben snickling a german-american Christmas tradition where children would dress in costumes and then call on their neighbors to see if the adults would guess their identities of the disguised and one version of the practice the children were awarded with food or other treats if no one could identify them carving jack-o-lanterns not using pumpkins but with turnips yes the tradition of carving jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland where they initially used turnips it is allegedly based on a legend about a man named Stingy Jack who repeatedly trapped the devil and only let

him go on the condition that Jack would never go to hell but when Jack dies he learns that heaven didn't want to have his home either so he was forced to wander the Earth as a ghost for eternity the devil gave Jack a burning lump of coal and a carved out turnip to light his way and so locals took up the Superstition and began carving scary faces onto their own turnips to frighten away evil spirits down the line during the 19th century Potato Famine when many Irish immigrants traveled to America the newcomers brought their own

superstitions and Customs to their new homes including the jack-o-lantern and eventually they began carving them out of pumpkins black cats the idea of being spooked by black cats dates back to the Middle Ages when these dark felines were considered a symbol of the devil it didn't help that centuries later accused witches were often found to have cats particularly black ones people began to believe that cats were witches familiar Supernatural entity that would assist in their practice of dark magic and black cats and spookiness have been linked ever since foreign bats were likely linked back to

the original Salmon Festival not symbolically but literally The Sounds LED large bonfires which attracted insects which in turn attracted bats as time went on people expanded upon the Uranus of bats with the number of superstitions and bats became harbingers of death in Nova scotian mythology a bad settling in a house means a man in the family will die if it flies around and tries to escape a woman in the family will perish instead witches on broomsticks we see them everywhere during Halloween but sadly we just have quite the brutal history in the Middle Ages women

labeled as witches from the Anglo-Saxon word Wicca or wise one practice divination such a woman would Curl Up near a fireplace and go into a trans-like state by chanting meditating or using hallucinogenic herbs superstitious people believed that these creepy women flew out of their chimneys on broomsticks and then we all know what happened to so many of these witches with the coming of Christianity foreign devouring candy the act of going door to door for handouts has long been a Halloween tradition but not necessarily for candy it wasn't until the mid-20th century treats were things like

fruits nuts coins and toys trick-or-treating Rose in popularity in the 1950s and it inspired candy companies to Market small individually wrapped candies people began to favor the Confections out of convenience but candy didn't really dominate at the exclusion of all other trades until the 1970s when parents started fearing anything unwrapped candy corn in the 1880s a candy maker at the one girl candy company in Philadelphia invented the tri-colored candy but candy corn didn't become popular until the golitz company brought the candy to the masses in 1898 when it was originally called chicken feed and was

sold in boxes with slope with the slogan something worth crowing for initially it was just a fall candy because of Corn's association with Harvest time but later became Halloween specific when trick-or-treating grew in popularity in the U.S during the 1950s candied apples It is believed that candied apples were invented accidentally in 1908 by William W Cobb a candy maker in New York New Jersey as The Story Goes Cobb was experimenting with red cinnamon candy to sell at Christmas time and he dipped apples on sticks into the red glaze and put them in his shop window

to Showcase his new Candy but instead of selling the candies he ended up selling the apples to customers who thought they looked good enough to eat they became fashionable treats for Halloween starting the early 1900s up until the 1970s but before William W Cobb way back in time the Romans used to worship a goddess known as Pomona the goddess of agriculture and abundance and during the Festival of Pomona apples were a staple just as the game of bobbing for apples is a staple at Halloween parties the origins of this game is actually rooted in love

and romance as it traces back to a courting ritual that was part of the Roman Festival young men and women will be able to predict their future Relationships by the game when the Romans conquered the British Isles in 43 A.D Blended in with a similarly timed saline a precursor to Halloween in the 1700s and 1800s women performed a somewhat similar ritual with a similar concept of Halloween in hopes of finding a husband Single Ladies used to throw apple peels over their shoulders hoping to see their future husband's initials in the shapes where they fell they

would also competitively Bob for apples at parties believing the winner on Mary first and in a ritual that just sounds downright creepy some thought standing in a dark room with a candle in front of a mirror would make their future husband's faces appear in the glass Bloody Mary anyone what are some other Halloween Traditions that you enjoy share them in the comments below and don't forget to click the like subscribe and check out our Channel [Music] [Music]