The story of Samhain

For thousands of years the tradition of Halloween has been celebrated. Halloween was originally the sacred festival of Samhain, the Celtic festival of the dead. The Celts believed that the day of October 31, was the day that the dead returned to earth and wreaked havoc on the crops and the people. The Celts thought that the presence of their other worldly guests made it simpler for the Druids (you know those creepy guys who sacrificed people) could foretell the coming years harvest.
To people who were entirely dependent on the on the unpredictable natural world, these stories helped to qualm their fears.
To commemorate the event the Druid priests would light the Sacred Bonfire where the people would gather to burn sacrifices of crops and animals to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts would wear costumes (Hmm, this seems familiar. Don’t ya think?) that mainly consisted of animal heads and skins (ok that’s just weird) During the celebration the Celts would attempt to tell each other’s fortunes. After the festival they would relight their hearth fires with flame from the Sacred Bonfire to see them safely through the long, dark winter. When it was easy to join the lost souls and become one with the dead.
In A.D. 43 the Romans had conquered much of the Celtic territory. In the course of their four hundred year rule two of the Romans most important festivals merged with the ancient ritual of Samhain. The first festival that merged was Feralia, which was the day the Romans commemorated the passing of the dead. The second day was the day the Romans celebrated Pomona, the goddess of the fruit and trees. Oddly enough the only relic of this merging with the day of Pomona is bobbing for apples, which was the sacred symbol of Pomona.
Then by the 800’s Christianity had spread to the Celtic lands. During the seventh century Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints Day, a time to honor the saints and martyrs. It is now believed that Pope Boniface IV did this in an attempt to rid the world of the Celtic day of the dead. And so the night of Samhain came to be called All Hallows Eve.
Halloween wasn’t really celebrated in America until the late 1800’s when the influx of immigrants was booming from Ireland and England. They brought the traditions of wearing costumes and going from house to house asking for food or money to the streets of America.
Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion dollars annually on Halloween, making it the second largest commercial holiday.
P.S. This reporter likes chocolate if you liked the article!