Its Beginning
Halloween goes back to around 2,000 years ago. At this time, the festival was called ‘Samhain’ and it was celebrated by the Celtic people and also people that populated Ireland & Scotland. In the Celtic calendar, the 31st of October marked the end of a new year. The Celtics believed that on October 31st the world of spirits and magical beings like fairies were very close to the world of humans. The Celts would put out food and feasts as an offering of sorts to these spirits to maintain peace and to ensure a prosperous new year. Some of the Celtic people would dress up to disguise themselves because they feared that the spirits who sought vengeance would come for them on this day. This was also a way for them to celebrate the dead. Celts would put out chairs in front of the fire for the spirits of their loved ones to sit in.
Trick or Treating in its Earlier Years
In the 15th century, the Roman Catholics had called the festival of Samhain ‘All Hallow’s Eve’. Around this time, a tradition known as ‘Souling’ began. People would go door to door reciting verses or singing songs and were given ‘Soul Cakes’ in exchange. These soul cakes were meant to please the dead and the households that would give these cakes were given good fortune for the year. Later on, a tradition known as ‘Guising’ was practised in Scotland and parts of Ireland. This tradition was, essentially, a take on ‘Souling’ except this time, the people who would go to households asking for food wore costumes.
Halloween on a Global Scale
The 19th century was when the United States of America and Canada had a large number of Scottish and Irish immigrants. This was how these traditions of Souling and Guising became more popular and as time passed, the traditions caught on to more parts of the world. And was coined the term ‘Halloween’.
The Donation That Changed Halloween
Initially, when this festival was celebrated in more places, adults never partook in trick or treating and found this custom of going door to door for food auspicious. However, trick or treating quickly caught on when a group of children in Philadelphia donated the money they got from this custom to UNICEF in 1950. This continued every year after trick or treating on Halloween night until 1965 when UNICEF had received so much money from all the donations from children that they received a Nobel Peace Prize. Trick or treating had become so popular because it was initially done for UNICEF that the custom lost its reputation of auspiciousness and mystery.
When researching the origin of Halloween, I was amazed at how Halloween changed into something quite different from what it initially started out to be. Quite frankly, in the end, it all goes back to modernism and how this festival is just one of the few things that have been transformed into something fitting for the current century and its people. Communication, styles of clothing, and even careers are just some examples of the impact of modernism on our society. Who knows, maybe our current practises and way of living will be completely different after a while.
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