Halloween – trick or treat?

Halloween is traditionally celebrated on 31 October.

The word ‘Halloween’ has been shortened from its origins, All Hallow’s Evening or Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve. The tradition involves trick or treating, costumes, carved jack-o’-lanterns, haunted houses, and bonfires.

There is often a misconception when it comes to Halloween as being evil or a day to dabble in dark arts or summon the dead.

The real origin is far less sinister. It descends from the Celtic festival called Samhain, where the Gaelic traditions celebrate the end of the harvest. The Gaelic pagans would collect the harvest and calculate their stock in order to prepare for the winter. Pagans are people who celebrated nature and by no means practiced devil worship or witchcraft. They believed that 31 October opened the frontier between the dead and the living. Cause for concern was that the dead would cause chaos and spread diseases on the crops.

Here is where the people would wear costumes or masks to please the spirits.

Irish and British settlers brought the tradition to America in the 19th century.

Halloween has evolved and changed since then with the induction of the infamous ‘trick or treat’. Here children move from door to door, chiming ‘trick or treat?’ Residents are expected to give sweet treats or experience the trick side, usually involving throwing eggs at the house in question. The tradition extends to the Middle Ages where poor people would move between houses, asking for donations in return for prayers for the passed-on souls.

The carved out pumpkins, called jack-o’-lanterns, originate from myths where a farmer called Jack deceived the devil by tricking him into

turning into a coin. The ‘coin’ jumped into Jack’s wallet which was covered in crosses; therefore he was trapped into the binding fortress. Jack promised the devil he would release him if he never took his soul. Years went by and Jack died, however, he was too sinful to enter heaven and could not enter hell either. The devil tossed him an ever-burning ember from hell to guide him as he roamed the earth. Jack put the ember into a turnip. There are numerous variations of this myth and reason for the carved-out pumpkins on Halloween.

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Details: www.halloweenhistory.org