Halloween History Treat

Since it is Halloween, we at Pinpoint decided to share a few fun facts about the day. Usually you think of Halloween as the season for ghosts, goblins and super heroes that take to the streets and ask for candy while scaring each other silly. Stories told around the campfire of spooky tales, scary movies are released in the theatres and we carve pumpkins, not to eat but to make into jack-o’-lanterns. Haunted houses are also amongst the many experiences that happen on Halloween. It has an interesting history story itself.

Let’s go back about 2,000 years when Halloween was also referred to as All Hallows’ Eve. There was a festival held around November 1st that was called Samhain (“sah-win”), which means “summer’s end” in European dictionaries. Details of Samhain, which are sparse and pieced together, depict it as an annual community meeting that happened at the end of harvest time. Villagers would gather up food and resources for the winter months so they were prepared for the changing of the seasons. Some folklorists believe Halloween or Samhain was a way to communicate with the spirits that would be crossing the world. I have heard many other ideas about Halloween as well, but we all have our theories about the fun holiday. Initially, Samhain and Halloween were not directly linked to each other. However, some say that All Hallows’ Eve and Samhain were so close together that they combined into one celebration, now known as Halloween.

Halloween has been a great way to have fun as adults and children alike by dressing up as the living dead and having fake headstones on our lawns. Traditions of dressing up and trick-or-treating date back to mumming and guising. People would don costumes and disguises and knock on doors to ask for food. Not until after World War I did the United States start trick-or-treating. It was not celebrated on October 31st either, but on Thanksgiving. Kids would knock on the doors of neighbors to beg for food. For this reason, Halloween also became known to some as “beggar’s night”. I would think that food was hard to come by after the war and depression set in for families and this was a way for many to get provisions for the winter. Tricks and games were also a part of this celebration. In the 1900’s, the tricks and pranks like tipping over outhouses, egging of homes and vandalism of other people’s property had turned more unruly and dangerously out of hand. For a safer alternative, leaders and adults encouraged children to trick-or-treat in order for the festivities to be controlled. To read more about the history of Halloween and Samhain, click here. Pinpoint hopes you all have a spooktacularly fun and safe Halloween this year.

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