The Meaning of Halloween
An Ancient Celebration in the Modern World
When most of us think about Halloween, what comes to mind are kids getting dressed up in costumes, and going door to door in their community to coax candy from their neighbors by proudly exclaiming “trick or treat!” We think about graveyard-themed décor, ghosts, cackling witches, skeletons, haunted houses, and all the other symbols of death and fear presented in a fun and playful way for the amusement of all of us. But few people know the history of Halloween and what makes this such a historically important holiday.
Although societies have had celebrations of ancestors and rituals around death from the dawn of humanity, our modern practice of Halloween originated among the Celts approximately 2,000 years ago. Their ritual celebration of Samhain (pronounced “Sow-in”) for the Celts was held after the final harvest when it was believed that the veil that separated the living from the dead was the thinnest—allowing the spirits of those who had passed to roam among the living.
Some potatoes, turnips, and beets were carved with the likeness of those who had passed and candles placed inside them to call the spirits of loved ones back home. Others were carved into scary faces and placed in doorways and windows as a way of warding off evil spirits. People donned animal skins and costumes, built bonfires, and offered libations of food and drink to honor their ancestors, and in some regions told stories of those who had passed as a way of keeping their memory alive.
During Medieval times, the practice of “souling” and “guising” emerged where young people would go from house to house and offer prayers or perform tricks in exchange for food. When the Romans entered into Celtic lands, they blended the practice of Samhain with other festivals such as Feralia (a festival to honor the dead) and Pomona (festival of the goddess of fruit and trees, leading to the tradition of bobbing for apples). The early Christian church sought to Christianize the holiday by naming it “All Saints Day” or “All Hallows’ Day,” which honored the saints and martyrs on November 1. The night before—October 31—was “All Hallows’ Eve,” which later shortened to Halloween.
Although the celebration of Halloween largely fell out of favor during the Renaissance and spread of Christianity throughout Europe, it remained as a folk tradition among the Irish and Scottish. It migrated to the U.S. during the mid-1800s as large numbers of people from the Northern British Isles migrated to North America to escape starvation from the great potato famine.
The modern American tradition of Halloween became widely popular in the U.S. during the 1930s and 1940s, and blended the old traditions of “souling” and “guising,” carving of faces on pumpkins and gourds (rather than turnips and potatoes), and themes of spirits, death, and the supernatural. Although, Halloween has become a fun holiday where we demonstrate our pumpkin carving ability, bob for apples, wear creative costumes, go on haunted hayrides, and extort candy from our neighbors, few people today understand the original intent of this holiday.
During your festivities this year, I would invite you to take a moment to pause and reflect on the lives of your own ancestors, and how their toil and sacrifices made it possible for you to live in a world of relative comfort today. We live in a time of flush toilets, running water, electric lights, and an abundance of food—a life that our ancestors could only dream about. For them, life was harsh, brutish, and short. For most of them, their goal was to make the lives of their children better than theirs. We are now enjoying the fruits of many past generations of hardship, and it is this celebration of Halloween that we give thanks and honor those who have come before us. They made us who we are and gave us a world where we now have more opportunity than any previous generation in history.
Dr. Todd Berntson
🎧 Halloween reminds us that the line between life and death is thin — and that remembering those who’ve gone before can teach us how to live more deeply now. In this week’s episode of The Happy Neurotics Podcast, we’re delving into the gift hidden in our mortality, and why embracing death can actually help us feel more alive.
Join us this Wednesday for Episode #010: The Gift of Mortality: How Facing Death Helps Us Live Fully.