Halloween History | National Geographic

[Music] from communion with the dead to pumpkins and pranks Halloween is a patchwork holiday stitched together with cultural religious and occult Traditions that span centuries it all began with the Kelts a people whose culture had spread across Europe more than 2,000 years ago October 31st was the day they celebrated the end of the harvest season in a festival called SE that night also marked the Celtic New Year and was considered a time between years a magical time when the ghost of the Dead walked the Earth it was the time when the veil between death and

life was supposed to be at its thinnest on sa the villagers G gathered and lit huge bonfires to drive the dead back to the spirit world and keep them away from the living but as the Catholic Church's influence grew in Europe it frowned on the Pagan rituals like sa in the 7th Century the Vatican began to merge it with a church sanctioned holiday so November 1st was designated All Saints Day to honor Martyrs and the deceased faithful both of these holidays had to do with the afterlife and about survival after death it it was a

calculated move on the part of the church to bring more people into the fold All Saints Day was known then as halus hallow means holy or saintly so the translation is roughly mass of the Saints the night before October 31st was all Hallow's Eve which gradually morphed into Halloween the holiday came to America with the wave of Irish immigrants during the Potato Famine of the 1840s they brought several of their holiday customs with them including bobbing for apples and playing tricks on neighbors like removing gates from the front of houses the young pranksters wore masks

so they wouldn't be recognized but over the years the tradition of harmless tricks grew into outright vandalism back in the 19 30s it really became a dangerous holiday I mean there was um such uh hooliganism and vandalism trick-or-treating was originally a extortion deal give us candy or we'll uh trash your house storekeepers and neighbors began giving treats or bribes to stop the tricks and children were encouraged to travel door too for treats as an alternative to to troublemaking by the late 30s trick or treat became the holiday greeting [Music]