Imagine this: you and your friends are trick-or-treating! You have the best time getting candy and scaring others with your grotesque masks! But it’s got you thinking.. How did Halloween originate? Where did it even come from?
Halloween originated in the 19th century, when Irish immigrants arrived in the United States. Little did America know it had brought some of its own traditions with it.
One of their holidays is All Saints Day, in which you pray to all of your loved ones who have ascended to heaven. According to Today, it states, “that the night before All Saints’ Day, people would hold vigils for the souls that hadn’t yet gone to heaven and were trapped in purgatory. In essence, it was night to pray for the dead — and thus Halloween was born”. This was quite similar to Dia de los Muertos, in that you celebrate the dead and invite them to come over to our world for one day.
But how did Halloween get its name? Today also states, “the name is a combination of the Scottish words ‘hallow,’ which loosely translates into ‘saint’ or ‘holy person,’ and ‘een,’ which means ‘evening.”(Today). Over time, children have used this holiday to pull small tricks and fool others as a joke. But in the late 1930s, it had gotten so bad as to, at one point, people started calling it “Black Halloween”. Children to even teenagers would vandalize, break windows, and even harm other people. But if you gave them an offering, such as candy, they would call a truce with you and leave your house alone. Hence the name, “Trick or treat!
This spooky, creepy holiday has been around for more than 2,000 years! Children from all over the world celebrate this chilling holiday by dressing up in spooky costumes, trick-or-treating for delicious candies, and walking around having a blast with their friends and families!