How Did Halloween Get Its Start?

Halloween is a rather bizarre holiday if you think about it – strangers doling out heaps of candy to even stranger people in vibrant costumes, deliberately trying to scare the pants off people. So how did it all begin? Let’s take a little walk down memory lane.

Halloween is celebrated on the very final day of October – the 31^st to be exact. The word ‘Halloween’ is actually derived from All Hallows’ Evening, or Hallowe’en. The latter forms just don’t quite roll off the tongue as well, do they?
Many decades ago, Irish and Scottish immigrants had their own version of trick-or-treating, which was brought over to North America during the 19^th century. Several other western countries embraced the holiday much later, including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
The holiday is originally credited to ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. During Samhain, local Gaelic culture would celebrate the end of the harvest season. The period was marked as a time when ancient pagans would stockpile supplies in preparation for winter.
So where did the ghoulish qualities come from? Gaels believed that as of October 31^st, the boundaries between the living and dead worlds overlapped, allowing the deceased to return and cause trouble like damaging crops.
The people believed the spirits needed to be appeased, so they donned masks and costumes. These spirits could be further quelled with bountiful offers of food and drink, commonly left on doorsteps.
It’s fairly easy to make the connection between the early origins and trick-or-treating as we know it today. It wasn’t until perhaps the 1950s, however, that Halloween became a major commercial holiday in the United States. Now nobody bats an eye toward a gang of children dressed as Ninja Turtles on October 31^st!
Happy Halloween from Kidtastic, and remember to keep your little ones safe!