The Roots of Halloween

by Admin · Published October 31, 2023 · Updated October 10, 2023

The name might have been derived from that of a Catholic feast, but the roots of Halloween may be traced back to an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”).

Samhain was celebrated by the Celts in Ireland, Scotland, and parts of Britain over 2,000 years ago. It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter — and was also believed to be a time when the boundary between the living and the dead was blurred.

When Christianity spread to these regions, the faithful sought to accommodate pagan festivals with Christian ones. When in the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as All Saints’ Day — a day to honour all the saints and martyrs who did not have a specific feast day of their own — the evening before, October 31, became popularly known as All Hallows’ Eve (or Hallowe’en), with “hallow” meaning “saint” or “holy”.

By associating the existing Celtic festival of Samhain with All Hallows’ Eve, Christians were able to integrate certain elements of the pagan festival into the Christian celebration. For example, the belief in spirits and the connection to the dead were incorporated into the Christian understanding of the saints and their intercession for the living.

Over time, Halloween evolved into a more secular holiday with various customs and traditions. Some of these customs, like dressing up in costumes and going door-to-door for treats, might have originated from the medieval Christian practice of “souling” or “souling night”, when poor people would go door-to-door on All Hallows’ Eve, offering prayers for the dead in exchange for food or money.

Today, Halloween is widely regarded as a festive occasion rather than any kind of religious observance. The global spread of US culture, where the custom of trick-or-treating became a defining experience of childhood, has introduced the secular feast with a Christian name to many parts of the world.

Published in the October 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine