With October comes a month of tricks and treats, ghoulish costumes and pumpkin carvings.
For years, people have celebrated Halloween in various ways. But, where have these traditions come from?
Halloween̢۪s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which was believed to be a day that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth, according to History.com.
These traditions were fused with the Roman’s celebration of Feralia — the day that commemorated the dead and honored Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona was the apple, which is believed to have led to the tradition of bobbing for apples.
In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated Nov. 1 to be All Hallows’ Eve, which translates to All Saints Day, a day to honor saints and martyrs. The three combined have become, what we refer to today as, Halloween.
During this time, many young women believed that they would discover the name of their true love or foresee their appearance on the night of Halloween by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.
Some young ladies would go door to door performing tricks in hopes of finding their future husbands.
The tradition of wearing costumes on Halloween has both Celtic and European roots. To avoid being recognized by ghosts that had returned to earth, people would wear masks and costumes when they left their homes after dark, in hopes that ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits and would not possess them, according to History.com.
This tradition has been carried on through the years, so that even today costumes are seen everywhere on Halloween, almost as much as pumpkins.
Pumpkins are found just about everywhere during the month of October.
The practice of carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns originated from an Irish myth about a man named “Stingy Jack.â€Â
Old Irish legend tells of Stingy Jack inviting the devil for a drink. Jack was too petty to pay and convinced the devil to transform into a sixpence to foot the bill. Instead of paying for the drinks, Jack kept the money and placed it in his pocket next to a silver cross so that the devil could not change back to original form. Jack, freed the devil under one condition that when he should die, the devil would not claim his soul.
Soon after, Jack died and true to his word, the Devil did not claim his soul. However, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven either. Instead, the devil sent Jack off into the night with a single burning ember. Jack placed the burning ember into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the earth with it ever since.
Years later when the Irish immigrated to the Americas, they brought with them the tradition of carving jack-o̢۪-lanterns. Traditionally, the Irish would carve jack-o̢۪-lanterns out of turnips or potatoes. However, these were hard to come by and so they adopted the use of pumpkins, and the tradition carries on today.
People now celebrate Halloween by going to parties, haunted attractions and watching horror films.
