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History
The history of Halloween is an intricate tale of time. The first known traditions having to do with spirits and the dead that appeared annually in one society was the Celts; about 2,000 years ago. On every October 31, they celebrated Samhain. They believed that this was the day the dead would come back to earth and haunt the living. To please their dead, they wore detailed costumes of animals, and had huge bon fires. It would take three days to complete the ritual, during of which they would pray to the gods and try to read each other’s future. When the Romans took over their land and people, this tradition evolved into their Feralia and Pomona.
This was around the time of A.D. 43. Feralia was when they celebrated the passing of the dead. They believed this was when the deceased left their grave and went into the afterlife. Pomona is when they celebrated their Roman goddess of apples and fruit. This might be where the modern day tradition of bobbing for apples came from. “Trick-or-treating” might have come from the All Souls’ Day Parade in England. In England, the poor would go around begging for food, and in return promising the family that they got the food from that they would pray for their dead relatives. Wearing costumes and handing out candy came from European of Celtic traditions. They would go about wearing animal skins, so the spirits floating around on that creepy night would not recognize them as humans and would then leave them alone. They would also put food outside their house to please the spirits, so they wouldn’t try to come into the house. All of our current traditions and legends came from past superstitions. This shows that fear and unknown factors can affect how a person perceives an ordinary night. On Halloween, the night is darker, longer, and creepier than any other night. This is how many feel, but if we did not have our history of Halloween, it would not be as fun of a night.
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