The History Of Halloween - Halloween Traditions Explained

when we think of Halloween we think of a fun and spooky holiday for those of all ages the streets are filled of adults and children in all sorts of costumes from terrifying monsters to figures of history and of course Harley Quinn you can't even turn a corner without seeing at least 5 Harley Quinn's we attend horror themed events and we decorate our houses in anticipation for the endless horde of trick-or-treaters that await their candy some prefer to stay indoors and binge on horror movie marathons and others actively seek a thrill with haunted houses and mazes

become an extremely popular today we aim to uncover the origins of Halloween how its traditions came to pass and why the holiday is loved by so many it is thought that Halloween originated in Celtic Island around 2,000 years ago with the festival known as soin the festival itself celebrated the divide of the two halves of the year summer and winter light and dark durin soin the veils between this world and the other world were at their thinnest allowing spirits to pass through families would invite lost loved ones and ancestors into their homes to share in

their celebrations and in order to avoid harm from evil spirits they would wear costumes and masks to disguise themselves the Druids built large sacred bonfires in order to honor the dead and to protect the living animals were sacrificed than a year's harvest was prepared for both the living and the dead with the food made for the dead ritually shared between those who were less well-off the Christians believe that soin was a pagan holiday and because of the festival's association with death the Celtic people and druids were labelled as devil worshipers in their attempts to wipe

out pagan practices the Christians succeeded in transforming the festival into All Saints Day or more commonly known as All Hallows day the night before traditionally known as soin became All Hallows Eve and eventually Halloween so where have some of these modern day traditions originated from we know that dressing up during Halloween originated from the Celts who dressed up as evil spirits to avoid harm from other evil spirits during soin although trick-or-treating today mainly consists of children running around on sugar highs collecting as much candy as humanly possible that wasn't always the case in medieval Britain

during the All Souls Day Festival the poor and those in need would beg for food and would often be given salted pastries made from sacred flour and water these were named soul cakes in return they would pray for relatives who had passed away the young would also dress up in costume and they would go door to door collecting food and sometimes even money in exchange they would sing recite poetry and tell jokes these traditions were eventually revived in 19th century America by the Irish and Scottish migrants in the form we know today as trick-or-treat in

its early days the focus was very much on the trick with pranks and vandalism being commonplace the town leaders eventually managed to limit the vandalism during Halloween when they decided to make the holiday center around the young first you make a hole at the top so you can reach in and scoop all the guts out so why exactly do we carve pumpkins we've come to know them as jack-o'-lanterns but their origins date back to the 17th century where their name meant man of a lantern and would often refer to the Nightwatchman of a town the

tale of stingy jack is believed to be where the tradition began when Jack died he was denied entry into heaven and having previously angered the devil he was also not allowed into hell instead the devil sent jack into eternal darkness with only a turnip field of coal to light his way the Irish and Scottish people began carving creepy faces into turnips and placing them by their windows in order to scare stingy Jack and other evil spirits away when they continued the tradition in America they found an abundance of pumpkins and decided that these would make

a great substitute for turnips whether you believe that jack-o'-lanterns keep away evil spirits or not they have become a staple decoration and symbol of Halloween even a game as trivial as bobbing for apples once had more of a significance in Ireland and Scotland apple bobbing was used to tell one's fortune as part of the divination game you would throw an apple poo on the floor and the shape of the pillow would determine the initial of a future lover there's no argument to the fact that Halloween has changed over the years it appears have lost its

religious origins and the superstitions surrounding it play little or no part in today's version of the holiday despite how commercialized the holiday has become it remains one of the most popular one of the main reasons I enjoy Halloween is because it gives people of all ages the chance to come together for one evening to celebrate the supernatural we allow imaginations to run wild and embrace creativity there are no limits or boundaries to whom or what you can become if you've enjoyed this video then please consider leaving a thumbs up as it helps promote the video

and allows the channel to grow if there's anything you'd like to discuss or have any ideas for future videos then please let me know in the comment section as always I've been your host mythology and folklore explain