There is one spooky event that represents every October: Halloween. Almost everyone spends their Autumns obsessing over the most thrilling holiday. But the question truly is: what is the real reasoning behind the holiday we all know and love?
History claims that the spectacular event has grown out of the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter and at the time had been attributed to death. This likely explains the symbols of skeletons and grim reapers that appear every Halloween time. The Celts believed that on October 31st, Halloween, ghosts were able to cross into the present world.
What about the amusing tradition of Trick Or Treat that all children highly enjoy? This lovable event can be attributed to “All Soul’s Day”, which the Smithsonian Magazine writes was a practice of going door to door and offering prayers to the wealthy around this dark season. Children in Ireland and Scotland then created their own spin on this, and started performing tricks or talents for wealthy families in order to receive a treat, hence the name “Trick Or Treating”.
The Children’s Theater Company declares that the art of dressing in your favorite chilling costume had the purpose of warding off spirits and making them believe that you too, were a fellow ghost. People were quite nervous during this time and protected themselves by any means necessary.
Over time, the survival-based holiday, ever fearing the specters on October 31st, has morphed and modernized into a children’s holiday for tricks and entertainment. There is less fear now, and instead of wearing the creepiest attire available, children can be spotted wearing anything from a dinosaur costume to a gory zombie getup. Even though these phobias are less common, no one can exactly claim that these old traditions have completely vanished.
