Informative Essay: A Very Brief History Of Halloween

History of Halloween The supernatural roam the Earth at this time. Halloween is a time when supernatural creatures walk the Earth. Halloween originated from a religious disagreement, it has many traditions and urban legends.

Celtics celebrated the holiday of Samhain at the end of summer. Samhain was the end of the harvest and the start of the cold (Fox). The Celtics believed at this time the dead could return to the world. They left food at their doors to attract good spirits and wore masks to scare evil spirits away. Also, they lit bonfires for the dead (Slemmer). The bonfires were supposed to help the dead on their journeys (Santino). The Celtics would have picnics in the cemetery so they could speak to their dead relatives. People made

Trick-or-treating originated from the Celtics. On the Eve of Samhain fairies were said to go from door to door for rewards. If they were not given anything they would play a prank on the person. On All Souls’ Day children would go souling for soul cakes. Souling is when children go door to door begging for cakes. Once a child received a soul cake they had to make a prayer for the dead relatives of the family who gave him the cake. Today children go trick-or-treating for candy. Over $2 billion is spent on candy every Halloween. Another popular tradition of Halloween is wearing costumes. This tradition of dressing up came from the Celtics. The Celtics thought if they wore costumes they could avoid the real spirits (Slemmer). Now, around $1.5 billion is spent on costumes and about $3 billion is spent on accessories (Rogers 6). Furthermore, carving pumpkins to make Jack-o’-lanterns originated from an old tradition of carving turnip. People would put candles into the carved turnips to pay respect for the souls in purgatory (57). When Irish Immigrants moved to America they replaced the turnips with pumpkins. They carved frightening faces into the pumpkins