It’s that time of year again students. You know, your pumpkin spice lattes, jack-o-lanterns, spooky outfits and a night where you get to tap into your dark side. That’s right, I’m talking about Halloween. Now in the Bible belt many of you may have grown up with the notion that this is the “devil’s birthday” or the day of evil. Many families forbid their children to be apart of this holiday because of its ‘wickedness’. Or maybe it is just the expensive costumes? So to understand Halloween, we will have to look at its history.
The earliest origins of Halloween root from the 2,000-year-old ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. This pagan group would practice their new year on Nov. 1. The Celts associated human death and poor crops with the end of summer and the cold harvest to sweep over. They held the belief that the day before the New Year was a line between our world and the underworld blurred, allowing creatures and ghost to mix with our world. Many believed making big fires and dressing up in costumes would scare off whatever passed the boundary. They would offer sacrifices to the fire and make predictions and tell prophecies of the future.
It was not until 43 A.D. the Roman Empire took control of Celtic lands adopting their holiday into their own. By 609 A.D, pope Boniface IV recognized the day nationally as Martyr’s Day adopting it into the Christian faith. The church attempted to overshadow the origin by making it a church holiday to remember the dead on Nov. 2. Now that you’re informed, what do you think? Could Halloween be just the product of fear from the supernatural or is it really a night you sell your soul? Regardless, who does not like candy?
