The Story of Halloween

Halloween is one of the oldest holidays

with origins going back thousands of years.

The holiday we know as Halloween has had

many influences from many cultures over the

centuries. From the Roman's Pomona Day, to

the Celtic festival of Samhain, to the Christian

holidays of All Saints and All Souls Days.

Hundreds of years ago in what is now

Great Britain and Northern France, lived the

Celtics. The Celtics worshipped nature and

had many gods, with the sun god as their

favorite. It was "he" who commanded their

work and their rest times, and who made the

earth beautiful and the crops grow.

The Celtics celebrated their New

Year on November 1st. It was

celebrated every year with a festival

and marked the end of the "season

of the sun" and the beginning of "the season of

darkness and cold."

The Celtics believed, that during the

winter, the sun god was taken prisoner by

Samhain, the Lord of the Dead and Prince of

Darkness.

On the eve before their new year (October

31), it was believed that Samhain called

together all the dead people. The dead would

take different forms, with the bad spirits

taking the form of animals. The most evil

taking the form of cats.

On October 31st after the crops

were all harvested and stored for

the long winter the cooking fires in

the homes would be extinguished.

The Druids, the Celtic priests, would meet in

the hilltop in the dark oak forest (oak trees

were considered sacred). The Druids would

light new fires and offer sacrifices of crops

and animals. As they danced around the the

fires, the season of the sun passed and the

season of darkness would begin.

When the morning arrived the Druids

would give an ember from their fires to each

family who would then take them home to

start new cooking fires. These fires would

keep the homes warm and free from evil

spirits.

The November 1st festival was

named after Samhain and honored

both the sun god and Samhain. The

festival would last for 3 days. Many

people would parade in costumes made from

the skins and heads of their animals. This

festival would become the first Halloween.

During the first century the Romans

invaded Britain. They brought with them many

of their festivals and customs. One of these

was the festival know as Pomona Day, named

for their goddess of fruits and gardens. It was

also celebrated around the 1st of November.

After hundreds of years of Roman rule the

customs of the Celtic's Samhain festival and

the Roman Pomona Day mixed becoming 1

major fall holiday.

The next influence came with

the spread of the new Christian

religion throughout Europe and

Britain. In the year 835 AD the

Roman Catholic Church would make

November 1st a church holiday to honor all

the saints. This day was called All Saint's

Day, or Hallowmas, or All Hallows. Years

later the Church would make November 2nd a

holy day. It was called All Souls Day and was

to honor the dead. It was celebrated with big

bonfires, parades, and people dressing up as

saints, angels and devils.

But the spread of Christianity did not make

people forget their early customs. On the eve

of All Hallows, Oct. 31, people continued to

celebrate the festival of Samhain and Pomona

Day. Over the years the customs from all

these holidays mixed. October 31st became

known as All Hallow Even, eventually All

Hallow's Eve, Hallowe'en, and then -

Halloween.

The Halloween we celebrate today includes

all of these influences, Pomona Day's apples,

nuts, and harvest, the Festival of Sanhain's

black cats, magic, evil spirits and death, and

the ghosts, skeletons and skulls from All

Saint's Day and All Soul's Day.