how did halloween start?

Answer 1

All Hallows eve, comes before all saints day. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year - the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

The Romans adopted some of the English Celtic practices as their own and assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.

The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated with a ninth-century Eastern European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.

Answer 2

It started as a pagan celebration called Samhain (pronounced sowan) that was when they believed the veil between this life and the afterlife was at its thinnest. When Christianity took over, they couldn't get the people to stop celebrating this high holiday, so they made the day following the feast of all the saints. All hallows was the old name for that feast, and of course the evening before was all hallows eve which became hallows eve which became halloween.

Answer 3

All Hallows eve, its the day before all saints day. The name just got changed along the way to halloween. All ghosts and ghouls come out to play for an eve, then get put to rest. To do with sacred religion

Answer 4

Halloween was originally called all hallows eve by the inhabitants at Salem, Massachusetts, they belived that on the 30th of October spirits of the dead and witches rose up to reek havoc, this lasted until midnight, 1st of November.

Answer 5

It started in Ireland. All Hallows Eve. 31st October is the day before All Soul's Day, a religious celebration. Apparently on the night before all soul's day, the dead used to come out at night for what reason I do not know, probably to say hello.

The Irish used to collect Turnips and carve out a hole and place candles in the middle of it as lanterns . The Yankees got a hold of the initial idea and blew it up out of all proportion, needless to say it developed into the fiasco it is today.

Trust the Good Ole Irish, and they say they are "Tick"

Answer 6

Others have done a spot on job of saying how it started. As far as our practises today, I think people are free to do much as they please. I am aware of those following the old ways who also incorporate the modern things such as candy and other treats for children in their halloween. I am a great proponent of being as overall inclusive as one wishes to be.

--That Cheeky Lad

Answer 7

Its a pagen event which was initially hallows eve where the pagens celebrated the death of their loved ones. over the years it has been more commercialised. Most of the christian events are all pagen such as christmas - decorating the tree was also a pagen event where they decorated the tree to show respect to mother nature. ALthough christians etc will deny this