History of Halloween Holiday in America

Halloween time is a holiday associated with all sorts of weird costumes, candies and tricks. It's a time when lots of money is doled out for the celebrations. However, not many are aware of why Halloween is celebrated. How did 'trick-or-treating' come about? Why are the costumes spooky and related to witchcraft? Very few people know anything about the history of Halloween. For kids, knowing more about the stories associated with the holiday is something very fascinating. History of Halloween in the United States is actually quite interesting, however, in order to understand the history of Halloween holiday in America and history of Halloween traditions celebrated today, it is crucial to understand the actual history of Halloween holiday. Directly jumping to history of Halloween in United States will not clarify how the concepts of trick-or-treating, costumes, etc came about. Let's unravel the history of Halloween in America one at a time!

History of Halloween Holiday
Halloween genesis can be traced back to the Celts, a tribe that lived 2000 years ago in an area that is now known as Ireland, UK and northern France. For the Celts, November 1st marked the end of harvest and bright summer and the onset of cold, dark, eerie winter months. They believed that on new year's eve (October 31st), the boundary between the living and dead enervated, causing ghosts of the dead to visit the earth. These visiting ghosts were believed to bring about trouble to man as well as to their crops. To add to the eeriness, this time of the year was consorted with human death.

Celts were people who depended on the volatile natural world for all kinds of prophecies made by the Celtic priests. They sought guidance from the spirit world for direction during the cold, severe and dark winter months. They believed that the debilitating line between the living and dead on October 31st - 1st November made things easier for the priests to contact these ghosts and prophesy. Since this time was auspicious to the Celts, they celebrated it elaborately and called this festival 'Samhein' (pronounced as sow-in). The Celtic priests would commemorate the event by lighting large bonfires, around which people offered crops and animals as sacrifices to Celtic deities. The bonfire was supposed to protect them during the coming, frightening winter months.

Winter was a frightening time because during that time lots of people lost their loves due to the cold and the food supplies often ran low. Moreover, the days were shorter and many people were spooked by darkness, which is why Celts chewed their nails quite a bit during this time! They believed that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes during this time. Thus, to avoid being recognized by the ghosts, they disguised themselves with costumes made from animal heads and skin, so that the ghost would mistake them for fellow spirits. They also placed bowls of food outside their houses to appease the ghosts and prevent them from entering the house. So this is how Halloween originated and this is how the tradition of Halloween costumes came about! Read more on how did Halloween start.

Alterations to the Original Halloween Holiday
There were some additions to the original history of Halloween holiday. The Romans conquered major portions of Celtic territory by AD 43 and reigned there for over 400 years. During their rule, two festivals of the Romans were kind of incorporated into the original Celtic tradition. In the 800s, Christianity reached the Celtic lands and in the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 to honor saints and martyrs calling it All Saints' Day. Some say the Pope wanted to replace the Celtic festival by a church related theme. Thus, Samhein festival celebrated on October 31st was called All-Hallows-Eve and November 1st was celebrated as All Saints Day!

Later in 1000 AD, the church designated November 2nd to honor the dead, calling it All Soul's Day. This event was celebrated just like Samhain, with large bonfires, costume parades comprising people dressed as angels, saints, devils, etc. The poor folks would go around from door to door asking for food from families. Families would give them pastries called 'soul cakes', with the deal that they would pray for their family's dead relatives in return. Soul cake distribution was encouraged by the church, in order to replace the ancient practice of leaving food at the doorstop to appease the spirits.

So, this is where the concept of 'treating' in 'trick-or-treating' came about! This concept was called 'going a-souling', wherein children would visit houses in the neighborhood and receive ale, food and money in return for their prayers. This was how All Soul's day was celebrated! Now the Europeans caused some more alterations to the Samhain. They combined the three festivals Samhain (31st October), All Saint's Day (1st November) and All Souls' day (2 November) and called it Hallowmas. This is how the concept of souls, saints, and treating got imbibed into Halloween! Let us now move ahead to the history of Halloween in America.

History of Halloween Holiday in America
We know how saints and souls, angels and devils fit into Halloween, however, when did the United States get hold of this festival. Seeing the gusto with which Americans celebrate Halloween, it is but natural to believe Halloween has its roots in the United States! Halloween stepped foot into America along with the European immigrants. The customs and traditions of these European immigrants got infused into those of the American Indians and a distinct American version of Halloween emanated.

Some of the initial trends in the American Halloween version were play parties and public events, where people shared stories of the dead, danced, sang, wore costumes, made mischief (all sorts!) and even told each other's fortunes. They dressed up in various costumes and went from door to door, asking for food and money. People gave treats to the children in order to prevent tricks being played on them. Young women performed tricks with apple parings, mirrors and yarn with the belief that they could divine the appearance or name of their future husband. Read more on Halloween costumes.

Just like in the game of 'Chinese whisper', where information passed gets metamorphosed as it passes from the mouth of one person to the ears of another and then to scores of others, traditions also get transformed from one culture to another as they are passed on. We take some and we add some of our own to it. So in the US, trick part was added to the treating tradition handed down by the Europeans and gave birth to the 'trick-or-treat' concept. Read more on Halloween decorations.

However, all this celebration was confined to colonies and was not celebrated across the country. It was only in the second half of the 19th century, when America was once again flooded by new immigrants (especially Irish fleeing the potato famine of 1846) that Halloween was popularized as a national celebration. Late 1800s viewed the attempts made in order to mold Halloween into a holiday pertaining to community and friendly get-together rather than pranks, witchcraft and ghosts. With the turn of the century came new styles of celebrating the festival. Both children and adults threw Halloween parties to celebrate the day. These parties focused on foods of the season, festive costumes and lots of Halloween games. Read more on Halloween party.

By the twentieth century, parents and community leaders were encouraged via newspapers to discard all grotesque and frightening aspects of celebration. This conduced to a toned down version of Halloween with fewer superstitious and religious overtones. Halloween turned a new leaf by the 1920s and 1930s by becoming a more community-centered and secular holiday. The festival was now marked by parades and town-wide parties. By the 1950s Halloween was directed mainly towards the youth. Read more on

• History and Origin of Halloween
• Why do we Celebrate Halloween

This is how the ancient Celtic festival evolved into the popular Halloween festival of the United States. Today billions are spent on the celebrations associated with it. Approximately $6.9 billion is spent on Halloween annually, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday. Hope this article on history of Halloween holiday in America was enlightening! Happy Halloween!