Some Halloween History

The History of Halloween and All Saints' Day:

It was the belief of the Celts that each year held two parts, the light and the dark. Samhain can be literally translated as summer's end, or meaning the end of the light. This day, November 1st, was considered to be the dawn of the new year on the Celtic calendar.

When Christianity began to spread across the lands, the name was changed from Samhain to Hallowmas, also known as All Saints' Day. The ritual of all Saints' Day was to honor the souls of the dead from the previous year, thereby defaulting the preceding day to be known as All Hallow's Eve or Hollantide, what we now refer to as Halloween.

The early history known of the Celts is that on All Hallow's Eve, the belief was that spirits of the dead would try to take over the bodies of the living. The idea of scaring the spirits away with bonfires and scary costumes or practical jokes and confusing tricks is probably the basis of what is understood to be the trick part of trick-or-treat. It is possible, but undocumented, that the carving of a pumpkin in order to create a scary facade may have begun at this time as well.

On November 2nd, All Souls Day, the poor would go from house to house and ask for cakes or other such sweet fare. The greater the generosity of those more fortunate, the more prayers would be said for their dead relations. This is likely the beginnings of the treat part of trick-or-treat. Over the years, the Christian influence in these rituals has brought these traditions together.

The old tradition of bobbing for apples or what was originally known as apple-ducking, stated the person who came up with an apple first would be the first one to marry in the new year. The modern version simply has the first one to bite into an apple declared the winner.