What is the history of Halloween?

Answer 1

Go here, it will tell you all about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

Answer 2

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Answer 3

It is the day before All Saints Day, so hallowed eve.
People honor their deceased family & ancestors.
That is before it became a commercial opportunity to sell candy.

Answer 4

look it up

Answer 5

The Celts coalesced as a society circa 800 BCE. They were located in what is now the United Kingdom, much of Western Europe and an isolated enclave in what is now Turkey. They held a major celebration near the end of our month of October, which they called called "Samhain", a festival to recognize the end of summer.

(The story that "Samhain" was a Celtic God of the Dead is a myth. However, it has been repeated so often by conservative Christian and secular sources that it has taken on a life of its own.)

The Celts believed that the veil between this world and the next was thinnest at this time of year. Friends and relatives who had died would often return, with their souls inhabiting an animal - often a black cat. Black cats have remained a symbol of Halloween down to the present time.

In celebration of the recently completed harvest, Celts would give offerings of food to the Gods. **They often went from door to door to collect food to donate to their deities. Also, young Celts would ask the townspeople for kindling and wood, and take it to top of the hill for the Samhain bonfire. These are two of the possible origins of present day "trick or treating." **

Samhain was a fire festival. Sacred bonfires were lit on the tops of hills in honor of the Gods. The townspeople would take an ember from the bonfire to their home and re-light the fire in their family hearth. The ember would usually be carried in a holder - often a turnip or gourd. They felt nervous about walking home in the dark; they were afraid of evil spirits. So they dressed up in costumes and carved scary faces in their ember holders. They hoped that the spirits would be frightened and not bother them.

Children continue to dress up today in various costumes. Pumpkins are now the objects of choice to carve faces into.

Wiccans and some other Neopagans base their religious faith on the religion of the Celts. They continue to celebrate Samhain today.

______________________________

To most people, Halloween is a fun holiday to dress up and eat candy. Well, even Pagans like to eat candy on Halloween, but we consider it to be a very important holiday in a more spiritual sense as well.

The proper name for the occassion is Samhain (pronounced Sow-en or Sow-een). It's sometimes referred to as the Witches New Year, because our religious year starts/ends with Samhain.

The holiday began being called "Halloween" because the Catholic church created All Saints Day (or All Hallows Day) on November 1st, in an attempt to turn people away from the original Pagan holiday. The night before became known as "All Hallows Eve", which then got shortened up to Halloween.
If you are concerned about the Pagan nature of October 31st, then you should probably stop celebrating Christmas and Easter, too.

Though those holidays have been thoroughly adopted by the Christian religion, they were both originally Pagan celebrations (Yule and Ostara). Halloween is the only holiday that has kept most of its Pagan meanings, without the Christian overtones.
Many fundamentalist Christian groups stand against the celebration of Halloween because they feel it is associated with demons and Satan. Unfortunately, most (if not all) of their 'facts' are incorrect.

The most common error, is that Halloween is celebrated to honour the Celtic God of the Dead, Samhain. The Celts had no such God. The word "Samhain" more likely came from "samhuinn", which is the Gaelic word for "summer's end". A fitting name, since that is precisely what this holiday is celebrating.

There is nothing Satanic about Halloween, either in modern times, or in the early history of the festival. Of course, there is nothing Satanic about any aspects of Wicca, witchcraft or Paganism, but that's another story altogether.

We don't celebrate black masses, conduct sacrifices or cast hexes on Halloween (or any other day!)

So now you know what Halloween isn't, but what does Halloween mean? Well, to Pagans who celebrate Samhain, it is the third and last of the year's harvest festivals. The crops are in, and it's time to relax and prepare for the long winter ahead. Samhain is a time to reflect on the events of the past year, and to remember those who have passed away. It's at this time of the year that spirits travel from this world to the next. Both good and evil spirits.

Part of the mythology of the holiday is that the God dies at Samhain, and the Goddess mourns Him until His rebirth at Yule. It is Her mourning that brings about the shorter, cold days of winter. After His birth at Yule, the days begin to get longer again.
Many of the symbols and traditions that we see around Halloween today can be traced to earlier times.

Carving of jack-o-lanterns probably started with turnips rather than pumpkins, but the idea is the same either way. With the spirits of the dead travelling on this day, people would carve faces into turnips (or gourds or whatever) in order to scare away any evil spirits. The dressing up in costumes was also done to scare off bad spirits.

***The idea of playing tricks was not done maliciously, but just as a way of having a bit of fun before the long dark winter settled in. The original gathering of treats was done to provide offerings to the Gods, in thanks for the harvest. ***

Personally, I leave a candle lit in the window along with a food offering for the spirits that might pass my way.

One last word. Many fundamentalist Christian groups have a strong negative bias towards any religion that is different from their own. Please keep this in mind when reading their websites for more 'truth' about Halloween.

______________________________...

HALLOWEEN: FACTS AND MISINFORMATION

The Halloween season of OCT-31 to NOV-2 each year is unique. It includes:

A Neopagan Sabbat: Samhain, usually celebrated on or near the evening of OCT-31. It was originally a celebration of the final harvest of the growing season among the ancient Celts. It was also their new year celebration. Today, it is mainly celebrated by Wiccans and other Neo-Pagans

Three Christian holy days: All Saints' Day (a.k.a. All Hallows' Day) on NOV-1. The holiday was first celebrated on 609-MAY-13 CE when Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to the Virgin Mary. The date was later changed to NOV-1 by Pope Gregory III who dedicated a chapel in honor of All Saints in the Vatican Basilica. Pope Gregory IV (827-844) later extended the feast to the whole church. The Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate All Saints Day in the springtime -- the Sunday after Pentecost.

All Souls' Day (a.k.a. the Day of the Dead) which is normally celebrated on NOV-2. When NOV-2 is a Sunday, as it was for the year 2003, the celebration is held on the following Monday. This is a day for prayer and almsgiving in memory of ancestors who have died. Believers pray for the souls of the dead, in an effort to hasten their transition from Purgatory to Heaven. It is primarily celebrated by Roman Catholics. The day is believed to have been selected by "St. Odilo, the fifth abbot of Cluny...France because he wanted to follow the example of Cluny in offering special prayers and singing the Office of the Dead on the day following the feast of All Saints."

1
Some Protestants celebrate Reformation Day. This is the anniversary of 1517-OCT-31 CE, the day that Martin Luther's published his 95 theses. These were criticisms of beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic church, particularly related to the sale of indulgences. He is widely believed to have published them in a dramatic manner, by nailing them to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Actually, that never happened. He did write a letter to his superiors attacking the sale of indulgences; the 95 theses were merely appended to the letter. This triggered for the Protestant Reformation, leading to a decades-long war in Europe, enmity between Catholics and Protestants, and the fracture of Christianity into thousands of individual faith groups.

A secular celebration, Halloween on the evening of OCT-31. In some areas, if OCT-31 falls on a Sunday, Halloween is celebrated on the evening of OCT-30. Stores love Halloween. It is the festival when the largest amount of candy is sold. It is second only to Christmas in total commercial sales. The total sale of costumes, candy and other Halloween material reached almost $7 billion in 2003.

There is probably more misinformation circulated about these festivals than about any other yearly celebration.