The story of Halloween Halloween is the name applied to the evening of October 31, preceding the...

The story of The story of HalloweenHalloween

Halloween is the name applied to the evening of October 31, preceding the

Christian feast of Hallowmas, Allhallows, or

All Saints' Day.

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The story of HalloweenThe story of Halloween

People in Britain have been celebrating a festival at the end of October and the beginning of November for more than

two thousand years.

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The observances connected with Halloween are

thought to have originated among the ancient Druids, who believed that on that evening, Saman, the lord of the dead, called forth

hosts of evil spirits.


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Then the Celts celebrated the festival of Saman which meant the end of summer and the

beginning of the Celtic New Year on November 1st. Among the ancient Celts,

Halloween was the last evening of the year and was regarded as a propitious time for examining the portents of the future.

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This was a time of darkness and mystery when ghosts and witches were

everywhere and winter was near. The Celts also believed that the spirits

of the dead revisited their earthly homes on that evening.


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People lit bonfires to drive away the evil spirits and to give energy to the dying sun. They carried torches from these

bonfires to their own homes and lit fires there too. They thought the fires kept the

witches away from their homes.

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After the Romans conquered Britain, they added to Halloween

features of the Roman harvest festival held on November 1 in honour of Pomona, goddess of

the fruits of trees.


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This was a time of darkness and mystery when ghosts and witches were

everywhere and winter was near. The Celts also believed that the spirits

of the dead revisited their earthly homes on that evening.


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For many hundreds of years we have been frightening the witches in another way with jack - o’ - lanterns. These are

usually hollow pumpkins or turnips with a candle burning inside them.


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Eventually, in England, the “Day of fires” became

November 5th, the anniversary of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. People have stopped

having bonfires at the end of October.


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Christian Hallowmass is a three-day period between October 31st and November 2nd. All Hallows’ Eve

(Hallowe’en) comes first, then All Saints’ Day and then All Souls’ Day.

Apples, nuts and candles are all very common in the Hallowe’en rituals.


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For hundreds of years children have been combining Hallowe’en with an old

custom called Mischief Night. This is a night when, traditionally, children played jokes on their neighbours. They changed stop signs... tied doors to walls... or to put

gates off their hinges.


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This is the origin of trick or treat which is popular in America and Britain.

Children wear Hallowe’en costumes (witches’ hats, frightening masks, etc.), visit houses and say, “Trick or treat?”.

People give them something - sweets or fruit (a treat). If people don’t give them

anything, children play a trick (for example, they tie some old tins to that

person’s car).


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Today Halloween is a festival of fun. Children dress up as ghosts and witches

or as other strange creatures like: Dracula, Frankenstein or Terminator. If they visit your house, you must give sweets or other good things, otherwise

they will play tricks on you!


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Some people give Halloween parties. They decorate the walls with cut-out figures of

witches, black cats and ghosts, make lanterns out of hollow turnips or pumpkins,

play games and tell ghost stories.


They eat hot soup and sausages, baked potatoes and

roast chestnuts and crisp apples. To drink there is hot, spiced wine or hot chocolate

flavoured with cinnamon.

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The Celtic tradition of lighting fires on Halloween survived until modern times in Scotland and Wales, and the concept of ghosts and witches is still common to

all Halloween observances.


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