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Where Do Our Halloween Traditions Actually Come From?

As the sun sets on October 31, spirits will rise to haunt the living—or so the story goes. It’s the ancient premise of the modern spooky holiday of Halloween. These days, such superstitions are recounted more for the fun of it, but many of our current Halloween traditions are rooted far in the past, in genuine religious and cultural beliefs.

The origin of Halloween is often attributed to the ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”), which marked the end of summer and its harvest and the beginning of winter. For the Celts, who lived in ancient Britain and Ireland, it also marked the start of the new year. Samhain starts on the evening of October 31 and lasts through the night on November 1. Many neo-pagans, which are modern-day practitioners of various pagan religions including Druidism and Wicca, still celebrate Samhain.

Halloween expert Lisa Morton, author of Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween, told TODAY that Halloween wasn’t widely celebrated in the U.S. until the early 1900s, when the costumes and decorations became commercialized. But it was first celebrated as early as the 1870s.

On Samhain, the Celts believed the dead were able to return to the world of the living, and also that those who had died that year were now able to cross over to the otherworld. So to keep evil spirits away, the Celts would wear disguises, like masks, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Library of Congress. In Scotland, a similar tradition was known as “guising,” where children would dress up to protect themselves from spirits and go door to door asking for an offering. However, Morton told TODAY that our costume-wearing these days is a “very modern” tradition.

During Samhain, practitioners would leave out food offerings in honor of the dead, or to appease spirits. They would then give the uneaten food to those in need. But it’s also believed that people, including children, went door to door to ask for such treats during this time. This was also a tradition during All Souls’ Day (the day after All Saints’ Day), in which people would request food in exchange for prayers for the dead. Also known as “doleing,” it was customary for children and those in need during other times of the year, like on St. Thomas Day in Britain. This style of “treating” carried over to the U.S. holiday. Continue reading from Popular Mechanics