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The history of Halloween was dated back to the ancient Celtic's. They had a festival called Samhaim. Their new year began on November 1st which was believed that the spirits were able to cross the boundary line between the living and dead. Samnaim was believed that ghosts of the dead would return to earth. The Celtics would build big bonfires where they would burn crops and sacrifice animals. The people would wear costumes of animal skin and heads. They thought that the costumes would help them tell the future. When the Romans took over the Celtics land in 43 A.D they took up some of the Samaim traditions. One of their celebrations was called Feralia. In late October Feralia was a day of passing of the dead. The second was called Promona which was to honor one of their goddesses. She was the goddess of fruit and trees, her symbol was the apple. That is how we got the idea of "bobbing for apples". In the 800's Christianity came and Pope Boniface IV assigned November 1st All Saints Day. It was also called All-Hallows or All-Hallowmas. The night before Samaim was called All-Hallows Eve which is now called Halloween. 1000 A.D the church made November 2nd Souls Day which was to honor the dead. The celebrations were similar to Samaim. All of the celebration that took place back then are now considered Halloween! Trick or Treating was created by the English. They would have a parade for All Souls Day and poor people would go around and beg for food. This was later picked up by the children of England and they would go around and receive food and money from their neighbors. On Halloween people believed that ghosts would come back. They thought that the ghosts could see them in their homes. The people would wear masks when they exited their house so the spirits would mistake them as a sprit and leave them alone. To keep the ghost from entering their homes they would place bowls of food outside their homes for the spirits so they wouldn't enter their homes.
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History
of Halloween