Halloween stems from diverse cultures

Every year on Oct. 31, people across the world dress up as monsters, princesses or their favorite movie star -for a holiday called Halloween. It isn't a national holiday, or a religious holiday, so what exactly has led to this phenomenon of candy, pumpkins and dress up.

The word "Halloween" comes from the Catholic Church and is a contracted version of All Hallows Eve. All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day, takes place on Nov. 1, and is a day of observance in honor of saints.

The evolution of Halloween as we know it today began in the fifth century B.C. in Celtic Ireland. Summer officially ended on Oct. 31 making the day a special holiday.

The Celts believed that all laws of space and time were suspended during this day, which allowed the spirits of the dead to intermingle with the living. Some Celtic legend even went so far as to say that the disembodied spirits of those that had died during the year would come back to earth during this time in order to possess living bodies.

The story goes that on the night of Oct. 31 those in Celtic villages would extinguish the fires in their homes, and then relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire.

However, as lore developed surrounding this tradition, a story was spread that on Halloween the Celtic villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, dress up in a ghoulish and unattractive manner, and parade around the village in order to make themselves and their homes look as undesirable as possible in order to keep to the disembodied spirits away.

The Romans adopted a lot of these practices, and Celtic traditions began to blend with other Roman celebrations that took place in the month of October. Over time practices became increasingly ritualized. Eventually, people stopped believing that spirits would inhabit their bodies but they continued to dress up as ghosts and goblins for ceremonial purposes.

The practice of wearing Halloween customs didn't come to North America until the 1840s when Irish immigrants, fleeing the potato famine that was plaguing Ireland, brought this custom with them.

The custom of trick-or-treating on Halloween came from an entirely different source. In the 9th century in Europe on Nov. 2, All Souls Day, Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," or square pieces of bread with fruit currants. The goal of this practice was to receive as many soul cakes as possible, and after collecting the cakes, those that received them would promise to say a prayer for the deceased relative of the person that gave them the cakes. People believed that prayer would expedite the process of taking a soul into the afterlife.

Trick or treating became widespread during the depression in the United States during the 1930s and early 1940s when costumed children went from house to house looking for a handout, usually candy. In return the children would not play a trick on the person that was giving it to them.

The use of the Jack-O-lantern at Halloween stems from Irish folklore and the tale of Jack, a notorious drunk, who tricked the devil into climbing into a tree, and then carved a cross on the tree, trapping the devil. According to the legend, Jack made a deal with the devil to set him free, but later when Jack died he was denied entrance to both heaven and hell. He was given a single ember by the Devil to navigate through the darkness of his afterlife, and he placed the ember into a turnip in order to make it last longer.

The Irish originally used turnips to re-enact this tale, but found pumpkins to be more plentiful when they came to the United States.

The symbolic meaning associated with witches on broomsticks and black cats took hold in Medieval Europe as people believed that on Halloween witches could fly to meet with the devil. People also believed that black cats were either witches in disguise or spirits of the dead come back to life.

Halloween as we know it today is a blend of many traditions and cultures, drawing from traditions of Celtic Ireland to the Romans. In many ways the Halloween that we now celebrate has taken on a distinct universal form.