Halloween Day

Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31st.

Origins of Halloween

Today’s Halloween, like many holidays, has both pagan and Christian roots being formed from both the Christian All Saints’ Day and the Celtic celebration Samhain.  The former root, All Saints’ Day, is also referred to as “Solemnity of All Saints,” “All Hallows,” and “Hallowmas.”  In the Catholic tradition, All Saints’ Day is the day before All Souls’ Day which commemorates the faithful dead who have not yet reached heaven.  Samhain literally means “Summer’s End” and is a pagan holiday marking the end of the harvest season; this holiday has many of the aspects of a day of the dead which explains where modern-day Halloween traditions originated.

The Name

The term “Halloween” came from the phrase “All Hallow Evening” which was shortened to “Hallowe’en.”

The History of the Jack-O’-Lantern

Ancient Celts carved turnips and rutabagas to resemble a head in order to frighten off evil spirits.  The name “Jack-O’-Lantern” is believed to come from of folktale of a drunken farmer named Stingy Jack.  According to the tale, Stingy Jack tricked the devil into climbing a tree, and then Stingy Jack trapped the devil by carving a cross into the tree trunk so the devil could not get down.  In return, the devil cursed Stingy Jack to roam the Earth at night using the only light he had – a lit, carved turnip.  Americans adopted the tradition of carving and lighting a vegetable, but opted for the pumpkin since it was more plentiful in the Americas and easier to carve.

More Halloween Facts & History

Learn more about the origins of Halloween by checking out The Real Story of Halloween at History.com.

The American Folklore Center offers a fantastically frightening article The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows.

The Washington Post published a great article that also covers Halloween’s origins in What’s Behind Halloween.

Learn more about the Christian roots of Halloween, All Saints’ Day, at the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Visit Chalice Centre for more information on one of Halloween’s pagan roots, Samhain.

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