Halloween has changed so much throughout the years. It’s gone from a ceremony to ward off ghosts to a fun holiday mostly kids celebrate. I’m credible on this topic because I did research. Today I’m going to be covering the history of Halloween, how it came to America, and how the holiday has changed. First, I’m going to be going over the history of Halloween.

According to history.com, Halloween started with the Celtic festival of Samhain (sow-win) which was located in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and parts of northern France 2,000 years ago. Halloween was used to celebrate the new year because the Celts believed November 1st was the start of the New Year. They believed that the night before the new year the living and the dead could be connected again, so they celebrated Samhain when they believed the dead could celebrate with them. Another tradition they had for October 31st was to find out their future. Celts believed that their Druid, a priest, could make predictions about the future on Halloween because it was supposed to be easier since the spirits were closer. For the ceremony, the Druid would build a sacred bonfire made out of crops and animals that the townspeople brought in as sacrifices. Then, the Celts would wear costumes they made out of animal heads and skin and they would try to predict each others’ fortunes. After the ceremony, everyone would go relight the fire in their fireplace. They had put the fire out before the ceremony because they wanted the good fortune to fill their house from the bonfire. According to brittanica.com, Samhain is Celtic for the end of the summer. The yearly Samhain festival was to stay protected from the gods on November 1st. On that day, the gods would play tricks on their mortal worshipers which was said to bring danger and supernatural appearances on Earth. That’s why they had ceremonies and sacrifices to have good fortune the following day.  Secondly, I will be talking about how Halloween made its appearance in America

According to info-america-usa.com, Irish immigrants brought Halloween to North America in the early 20th century. Originally the holiday was super dangerous. Teenagers were pulling pranks on people which caused injuries and the economy started to crash for companies who sold Halloween items because nobody wanted to support it. In the 1920’s they started to plan activities so there would be less violence, and that’s when the tradition of trick or treating started.

According to nationalgeographic.com, during the 16th century in England, the poor went begging on All Souls Day. Later on children took over this tradition and people would give them cakes with crosses on top called “soul cakes” and they would ask the children to pray for them in return. Trick or treating was not only based on this but Christmas too. Throughout the 18th and 19th century, there was a Christmas tradition called besnickling in the US and Canada. Kids would dress up, go door to door, and do small tricks for food or drinks. Another way people did it was seeing if they could identify the person in the costume and if they couldn’t they would get a treat. The older traditions have now evolved to trick or treating. Trick or treating became popular in the United States after World War 2 because candy was available again and people didn’t have to ration food anymore. Companies started making merchandise and Halloween themed candies and people went crazy over it. Costumes went from homemade ghosts and pirates to movie characters. Trick or treating got the most popular when adults realized how much easier buying pre wrapped candy instead of using apples, nuts, and homemade goods. By the 20th century all the old Halloween tricks had completely disappeared.

Today I covered the history of Halloween, how it got to America, and how the holiday has changed over the years. I hope everyone learned something about Halloween.