Why Do We Celebrate Halloween On October 31?
Thousands of years ago, the Celtic people or the Celts lived in regions that are now Ireland, Britain, and Northern France. This was long-long back even before Jesus Christ. The Celts had a tradition of remembering those who had died and keeping the evil spirits peaceful.
They did this every year on 31 October and it was called Samhain. Also on 31st October every year, they organize Samhain to celebrate the harvest season. But their Practices were opposed to the Christian way. Hence nearly seven hundred years after Christ.
The head of the Catholic Church moved on an important Christian day. The ALL SAINT’S DAY to 1st November. It is a Christian festival in honor of all the saint’s in heaven. Earlier it was celebrated on 1st of May. They thought everyone would forget about Samhain.
HOW DID HALLOWEEN COME ABOUT?
Since November 1st was the day of celebrating the Holy Spirits the evening before that became the holy Evening or All Hallow even. Hallow is the old word for Holy and Even is the old word for evening. Soon All Hallow Even became Halloween! Dressing up as spirits and ghosts became a part of the All Saints Day celebration because people who celebrate Samhain believed that wearing scary costumes would scare away the evil spirits and keep them away.
WHY AND HOW DO WE CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN IN UNITED STATES?
American colonists are initially responsible for bringing Halloween to the United States. Most of the colonists were English Puritans who celebrated Samhain before moving to their new country. Although Celtic religious traditions were long-standing but were later replaced by Christianity, many older practices remained. Influenced by different cultures, Halloween traditions in the American colonies began to mingle and change.
Today Halloween in the united states is quite different from how it was originally celebrated several centuries ago. However, many of the modern Halloween traditions are based on those from the originally All Hallows Eve.
The first one is trick-or-treating :-
On Halloween night children all over the country dress up in costumes and go from house to house knocking on the doors of their neighbors and asking for candy. This tradition can be traced to 16th century Europe where people would knock on doors and ask for food on All Hallows Eve. If the household donated food they could have good luck if not misfortune would be brought upon them.
The next Halloween tradition is that of wearing costumes :-
As I explained earlier in this article People would originally were costumes and masks on All Hallows Eve to prevent evil from recognizing them.
Today both children and adults wear costumes on Halloween at school and work as well as during trick-or-treating parades and parties.
Common Halloween costumes were originally based on mythological and supernatural creatures. Such as Witches, Vampires, Ghosts, Skeletons, Zombies, Werewolves, and Devil.
WHAT DOES HALLOWEEN MEAN IN THE BIBLE?
Hallow is the old word for Holy and Even is the old word for evening. the Halloween word comes from All Hallow Even which means Hallow evening. Soon All Hallow Even became Halloween.
