Happy Halloween to all that celebrate!
It really is a lot of us that celebrate, isn’t it? From children trick or treating to Halloween club nights and 31 day movie marathons filled with all our spooky favourites, Halloween is the one holiday that’s incredibly fun and low-pressure, especially compared to other popular holidays like Christmas.
But, where did this tradition start and why do we still celebrate it today? Besides putting our dogs in adorable costumes, is there still an importance to this eerie holiday?
It all started with a Celtic holiday
According to the History channel, Halloween started around 2,000 years ago with a Celtic festival named ‘Samhain’ in an area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France.
This was a new year celebration, with the Celts welcoming a new year on November 1st.
History explained: “This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death.
“Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.”
That is great and suitably spooky but... what’s with the masks?
Of course, dressing up is an essential part of Halloween for many of us, but how did that even start? Were we dressing up for our ancestors on their annual visit?
Well... not so much.
Britannica explained: “People set bonfires on hilltops for relighting their hearth fires for the winter and to frighten away evil spirits, and they sometimes wore masks and other disguises to avoid being recognised by the ghosts thought to be present.
“It was in those ways that beings such as witches, hobgoblins, fairies, and demons came to be associated with the day.”
Obsessed.