Christians have celebrated All-Hallows-Eveor Hallowmas since about the 8th century as a night of prayerfulpreparation before All Saints Day. But, the pagan associations of Halloween with the day are actually mucholder—and perhaps more deeply entrenched.
Many of the ancient peoples of Europe marked the end of theharvest season and the beginning of winter by celebrating a holiday in lateautumn. The most important of these holidays to influence later customs was Samhain,observed by the ancient Celts. Samhainmarked the end of one year and the beginning of the next. According to their tradition, thespirits of those who had died in the preceding year roamed the earth on Samhain evening. The Celts sought toward off these spirits with offerings of food and drink. They also builtbonfires at sacred hilltop sites and performed rituals, often involving humanand animal sacrifices, to honor Druid deities.
When the Celts were eventuallyabsorbed into the Roman empire, many of their traditions were adapted by theconquerors as a part of their own celebrations. In Britain, Romansblended local Samhain customs withtheir own pagan harvest festival honoring Pomona, goddess of fruit trees—fromwhich the game of bobbing for apples was derived. In many places such as Scotland and Ireland, Samhain was abandoned only when thelocal people converted to Christianity during early Medievalism. But even then,pagan folk observances were linked to a number of Christian holidays.
Thus, many of theold Samhain traditions thoughtto be incompatible with Christianity often became linked with Christian folkbeliefs about evil spirits in the celebration of Halloween. Although such superstitions varied a great deal fromplace to place, many of the supernatural beings now associated with the holidaybecame fixed in the popular imagination during the Renaissance. In Britishfolklore, small magical beings known as fairies became associated with Halloween mischief. The jack-o’-lantern,originally carved from a large turnip rather than a pumpkin, originated in MedievalScotland.
As belief in many of the old superstitions waned during thelate 19th century, Halloween wasincreasingly regarded as a children’s holiday. Beginning in the 20th century, Halloween mischief gradually transformed into the modern ritual oftrick-or-treating. Eventually, Halloweentreats were plentiful while tricks became rare.
Alas, the idea of the day being a prayerful preparation for All Saints Day is even more rare.