Origin Halloween

QUESTION: Origin Halloween – Is it just an ancient celebration?

ANSWER:

Halloween or other fall solstice celebrations from ancient times to modern day continue the origin Halloween practices established by individual groups of various faiths and beliefs from all over the world. The practices and rituals of Halloween date back many centuries to some groups like the ancient Celtics and Druids of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France that performed burnt sacrifices such as crops, animals, and humans. Other practices and rituals consisted of creating and determining calendars of specific points of the year according to the placement of stone arrangements, such as Stonehenge in Britain and Calendar One (as it is called by its discoverer) by a group of Native Americans in the state of Vermont of the United States.

Origin Halloween – Current Celebrations
The modern versions of Celt celebrations of origin Halloween may have influenced our ideas today; how we tend to celebrate, think about, and conduct some of our practices on Halloween. Because the Celts or Druids conducted and performed burnt sacrifices, they did it to please their many gods for the year. In this manner, their New Year’s Day was considered to be on November 1. During the end of the year celebration on Halloween, the Celts were known to wear costumes consisting of animal skins and heads. They went around trying to predict each other’s future. After the entire Celt Halloween celebration was completed, they would turn their focus onto the winter to come by using the flames from the sacrificial fire to light their own hearths for the provision of warmth.

It was not until the Romans had conquered the Celts that they adapted the costume ritual of the origin Halloween and combined it with their own ritual of honoring the Roman goddess of trees and fruit. This portion of the Roman ritual may have led to the present day of origin Halloween for the activity of bobbing for apples.

With the spread of Christianity, Roman and Celtic origin Halloween practices were developed to fit more of the church’s sanctified days of observation. One thing that was done to accomplish this was to move the Celt ritual of sacrificial offerings and rename it as All-Hallows or All Saint’s Day in an attempt to honor saints and martyrs. One main Christian leader at the time known as Pope Boniface continued the Roman/Celtic practices of bonfires, parades, and wearing costumes. But the people could only dress up as saints, angels, and devils. Over the years, the names of All-Hallows and All Saint’s Day was shortened to Halloween.

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