When did the Halloween holidays originate?

Answer 1

ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN CUSTOMS

The History Channel has a great Documentary that explains about the origination of Halloween which is a mixture of Celtic and Catholic tradition which began in Europe and was brought to America by the the European immigrants main y the Irish Catholics. This was the end of Summer and Oct 31 became All Hallows Eve which was believed to be a time when spirits roamed around looking for bodies to inhabit. Peoplewere superstitious at that time and believed this so much that they would dress up in costumes to disguise themselves to confuse and frighten spirits away and so they would not be selected by the spirits for "posession" of their bodies. Also animals were believed to be reincarniated from the souls fo the dead. Tradition has changed over the years replacing turnips with pumkins which was something americans chose to do and ruling out all other small animals stickin gwiht the only black cats displaying them in their windows to frighten celebrate Halloween along with Spiders not necessarily to frighten off spirits as much as to entertain and frighten young tricker treaters.

The term Trick or Treat came from the same religious attempt to protect souls. Women, girls and pesants would go door to door seeking gifts or "soul cakes" to pay penance for their loved ones in purgatory so they could gain passage into heaven through this gift offering. There are numerous other translations of this "trick or treating" story and there are other variations where late on home invasion took place and men would rob the homes of families in Ireland saying "Trick or Treat". The treat was all the money and jewelry they had and the trick was if the family did not give enough to please the bandits they would torture and rape, or even kill the family. The bandits would still get their "treat" and then burn the house down. This is real. If you do your research you will find it. :o) Happy Hunting.

Answer 2

A combination of the Roman "Ferella" and "Pomona" holidays which honor the dead and fruit and flowers with "Samhain" from the Celtic harvest celebration that also thanked the ghost of the dead that protected their fields and crops.

AnswerHalloween originated from the Pagan festival of Samhain (pronounced sawain). This is the time when the Mother becomes the Crone (Maiden - spring, mother - summer and autumn, crone - winter). It is a time of looking inwards and finding inner demons rather than anything scary outside of ourselves.

On the other hand, Samhain is the time when our dead relatives come back to visit us, we don't want to give them a bad impression, so it is traditional to set an extra place for them at the dinner table - and hope that they don't show up!

Answer 3

It originated in Ireland after it was believed a devil roamed the area around the capital so the citizens disguised themselves as monsters so they wouldn't be taken to the underworld. Pumpkin carving originated in Ireland as a decoration and a repellent against vampires ghosts and "bogeymen".
Halloween is derived from Samhain (pronounced "so-hahn") which is an ancient celebration. "Samhain" is a Celtic word which means "Summer's End." It is when the veil between the spirit world and physical world is at its thinnest. The Celts would hold bonfires and feasts through the night. Eventually, Christianity wiped out a good deal of its original meaning. But, this is why people think of ghosts and such, because the spirit world is very active that time of year.
Halloween was brought to America as immigrants came from other countries.

Halloween can be traced directly to Irish traditions as was first celebrated in America in 19th century.

The Gaelic holiday of Samhain is what we now call Halloween.

Halloween is on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was originally a pagan holiday, honoring the dead. Halloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago.

During the protestant reformations the leaders of the new churches used ridicule and mockery of the then Christian faith (Catholicism of today) to bolster adherents to the new religion. During the first 1500 years of the Christian religion, All Souls Day was one of the major feasts of the church. All Souls Day was a time of communion both spiritual and physical between the realm of the world and the saints of heaven. Protestants began to mock this feast day with the concept of Halloween - which became a day when protestants made fun of the Catholics with visions of ghouls and ghosts. As the new feast of mocking grew in popularity the celebration grew to include the food and decoration of other feasts of the season such as the old traditional fall and/or harvest festivals of the local regions (such as Octoberfest in Germany). As the protestant movement expanded, a puritan undertone took hold.

Puritans believed the Christmas feast to be based in the pagan rituals of Sol-Invictus (return of the Sun) which most Sun Worshiping religions of the European community held to. As protestant Christians lost a winter feast they began to move some of the joyful celebration to Halloween as the new Protestant churches accepted their members celebrating a holiday that ridiculed the Catholic beliefs. As such fancy dress (costumes) where moved from the European Christmas to Halloween as was the English Christmas of treats became Halloween's trick-or-treat. In short, Halloween was created by protestants to mock Catholics; began to borrow pagan harvest festival decorations and foods; grew in stature as Puritans banned Christmas celebrations; and later incorporated versions of European Christmas celebrations.
There is a lot of history behind Halloween, orginally called All Hallow's Eve (or Even which is short term for evening). Its roots can can be traced as far back as ancient Rome, whre people celebrated the Parentalia honoring their dead parents.

The Ancient Celts' festival of Samhain may also play a part in modern Halloween. The Celts felt this time of year "death walked over the Earth" as crops began to die, trees lost their leaves and everything began to freeze. They would light sacrificial bonfires and dress as the dead, so the dead themselves would be confused and not attack. To further appease the restless spirits, they would throw a valued possession into the fire as an offering.

Answer 4

Yule is a pagan holiday that celebrates the return of the light or the Winter Solstice. Yule is celebrated around 21st of December, the longest night of the year.

Christmas doesn't exactly "originate" from the Winter Solstice. Rather, early Christian leaders overlaid pagan days of celebrations with Christian holy days in order to de-emphasize and overshadow paganism. Pagan days of celebration are still celebrated all over the world.

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Answer 5

Halloween derives from the old English for All Hallows Eve - the day before All Saints' Day.

Answer 6

A Celtic festival, Samhain.

Answer 7

Halloween has Pagan origins

Answer 8

the Celtic Fire Festival

Answer 9

Ireland