After all, this old-fashioned holiday actually dates back many, many years. It's a lot older than you might think! And as for the witches and wizards that you've come to associate with it? They're part of the story, too. Here's the true tale of how Halloween officially came to be. You already know that Halloween takes place on the last day of October, but here's something you might not know: The word itself literally means "hallowed evening," and was previously known to early European celebrators as All Hallows' Eve.
The name was eventually shortened to "Halloween," which we know and love to this day. The pagan and Christian occasions hadn't always been back-to-back, though. Perhaps in an attempt to offset the occasion with a religious celebration, Pope Boniface IV ultimately made the call to change the observance to its current November 1 date. Halloween falls on October 31 because the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain , considered the earliest known root of Halloween, occurred on this day.
It marked a pivotal time of year when seasons changed, but more importantly, observers also believed the boundary between this world and the next became especially thin at this time, enabling them to connect with the dead. This belief is shared by some other cultures; a similar idea is mentioned around the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which also typically occurs in October and involves saying prayers for the dead. This is also where Halloween gains its "haunted" connotations. The early pagan holiday of Samhain involved a lot of ritualistic ceremonies to connect to spirits, as the Celts were polytheistic.
While there isn't a lot of detail known about these celebrations, many believe the Celts celebrated in costume granted, they were likely as simple as animal hides as a disguise against ghosts, enjoyed special feasts, and made lanterns by hollowing out gourds hence, the history of jack-o'-lanterns. Over time, as Christianity took over and the pagan undertones of the holiday were lessened, the basic traditions of the holiday remained a part of pop culture every year; they simply evolved and modernized.
The mystical rituals of earlier times evolved into more lighthearted fun and games. For example, the somewhat heavy concept of connecting to the dead was replaced with the more lighthearted idea of telling the future. Bobbing for apples, for example, became popular as a fortune-telling game on All Hallows' Eve: Apples would be selected to represent all of a woman's suitors, and the guy—er, apple—she ended up biting into would supposedly represent her future husband.
In fact, Halloween previously posed a huge albeit rather superstitious matchmaking opportunity for young women in the 19th century. Another popular All Hallows' Eve ritual was mirror-gazing, as people hoped to catch a vision of their future by looking into the mirror. There are also reports of fortune-cookie-like favors being given out during earlier times.
Despite all of the festivities that happen in the evening, Halloween is still a working day and most businesses and banks follow their regular hours. So if you're rushing home to answer your doorbell on the day, you're certainly not the only one.
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Americanizing Halloween. What We Know Today. Is Halloween a Holiday? Rebecca Nelson Getty Images. Subscriber Account active since. Halloween is the spookiest night of the year. It's also a boon to the retail industry — even during a pandemic.
And, with more people indoors and looking for a little cheer during a tough year, pet costumes are "flying off the shelves. The Halloween fever isn't contained to the US, either. In fact, people around the world celebrate the holiday in many different ways. But where did all these strange practices come from? Turns out, a lot of these customs date back centuries.
The holiday has changed over time, transforming from an ancient tradition to the flashy fright fest we know and love today. Scottish poet Robert Burns helped to popularize the word "Halloween" with his poem of the same name. So where does the name itself come from? According to the Online Etymology Dictionary , it's actually two words smushed together. The "een" part of the word is a contraction of "eve" — or evening before.
This comes from the fact November 1 is All Saints' Day, a Christian feast dedicated to celebrating the faithful departed, including all the saints. In Christian tradition, people start celebrating major feasts the night before they take place — take Christmas Eve, for instance. Historians have linked Halloween to Samhain, the Celtic festival of the summer's end celebrated in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. According to Celtic mythology, the veil between the Otherworld and our world thins during Samhain, making it easier for spirits and the souls of the dead to return.
People would make offerings of food in order to get on the good side of these spirits and departed ancestors, according to the Mirror. Pope Gregory IV switched it to the current date in , according to Britannica. His reasons were unclear, although influence from Celtic factions of the church and the fact that it makes sense to commemorate death during the fall are possibilities. Halloween has come to be most closely associated with the pumpkin, but apples have played an important role in its history.
After all, apples make numerous appearances in Celtic mythology and are often connected to the Otherworld. The reason? Well, the practice used to be considered a form of divination performed around Halloween, according to NPR.
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