From Samhain to Halloween

Thousands of years ago the Celtic people in Britain had a festival called Samhain, on 31st October.

For them that was the end of the summer. They built bonfires on top of hills, that would make the evil spirits go away. The young men went around all the houses in their villages asking for food for the Gods and wood for the bonfires. This may have been where trick or treat, the nowadays popular Halloween game, was started.

After lighting the bonfire, Celtic families used to take some of the ashes home to relight their own fires. They carried the ashes in a hollow turnip or pumpkin. They were so nervous about walking in the dark because they were afraid of evil spirits. So they dressed up as witches or ghosts, to scare the spirits away. This is where both the pumpkins and the scary costumes for Halloween came from. 

The Celts believed that there was a curtain between the world of living and the world of dead. The curtain was thinnest when summer became winter. They thought dead relatives and friends could then come back to visit them, often in the form of cats. 

Much later, Pope Boniface IV created All Hallows’ Day, from which we have got Halloween. The Hallows’ Day became a day to remember all the saints who didn't have a day of their own.