Halloween’s Beginnings
Criste Cottrell
Issue date: 10/29/02 Section: Entertainment
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It all began with the Catholic Church's All Hallows Day, which was celebrated on November 1. It was believed that on this day, spirits of people who had died the previous year would come back in search of living bodies to possess. The reason for the search was if these spirits could find bodies, they could have an afterlife. People, of course, did not want to be possessed, so they would dress up in costumes, and parade through the streets destructively, in order to frighten the unwanted spirits.
The Irish Celtics also helped add to the celebration with their tradition of All Saints Day. On the second day of November, early Christians would walk from village to village asking for "soul cakes." The more cakes they could gather, the more prayers they could offer to their dead relatives.
The last, and most prominent group contributing to the modern celebration of Halloween is the Irish. They tell a tale of a drunken man who tricked the devil into climbing up a tree. While the devil was in the tree the man, "Jack," carved an image across the trunk of the tree that trapped the devil. Jack then informed the devil that he would help him down if he never tempted him again. When Jack finally died, he could not enter heaven or hell, because he tricked the devil. However, the devil gave Jack a light to brighten his way through the darkness. Jack placed the light inside of a turnip to keep it glowing longer, and thus, the legend of the Jack-o-lantern continues today.
Now we have turned cultural and religious traditions of history into a time of suspense and partying. We dress up like witches, watch scary movies, go trick-or-treating and carve pumpkins. We pretend to be scared, but deep down we aren't. Halloween has developed into a happy holiday, rather than a time to run from spirits lurking in our homes. But should we have something to fear? Are there spirits? Maybe next time you turn the corner of your neighborhood on that spooky Halloween night, you'll check twice.
