Do you know why Halloween is celebrated every year?
Halloween is a holiday that is observed on October 31; in 2022, it will fall on a Monday. The custom has its roots in the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, when people would dress up and build bonfires to fend off ghosts. Pope Gregory III established November 1 as a day to celebrate all saints in the ninth century. Soon, elements of Samhain’s customs were absorbed into All Saints Day.
Before Halloween, the previous evening was referred to as All Hallows Eve. Halloween has changed throughout the years to become a day filled with festivities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive get-togethers, dressing up, and enjoying sweets.
Halloween’s roots can be found in the historic Samhain festival of the Celts (pronounced sow-in). On November 1, the Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in a region that is today primarily Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated the beginning of their new year.
On this day, summer, harvest, and the gloomy, chilly winter, which was sometimes a season of fatalities for people, came to an end. The night before the new year, according to the Celts, the line separating the living from the dead become hazy. On the evening of October 31, they observed Samhain, a time when it was thought that the spirits of the dead made a comeback to the planet.
Celts believed that the presence of the supernatural spirits made it simpler for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make future forecasts, in addition to causing difficulties and harming harvests. These forecasts served as a significant source of solace for a people wholly reliant on the unpredictable natural environment during the long, dark winter.
Do you know why Halloween is celebrated every year?
Druids constructed enormous sacred bonfires to serve as a reminder of the occasion, and people gathered around them to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic gods. The Celts attempted to tell one other’s fortunes while dressing up in costumes made typically of animal heads and skins.
