Halloween was one such pagan holiday hijacked by the catholic church. Before the text theres a list of vocabulary that might be new to the students. The real origins of halloween discusses the history of halloween, the origins of trickortreating, reasons behind some of the symbols of the season, and why the holiday is well worth keeping and celebrating. The scene with the halloween party shows how to do it right and wrong according to the complex mores of american high school culture. Souling originated in ireland and britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as italy. The origin and meaning of halloween are derived from ancient celtic harvest festivals, but more recently we think of halloween as a night filled with candy, trickortreating, pumpkins, ghosts and death. I have researched this topic for more than a decade and halloween s occultic connection is. Today, we know that halloween is a mostly secular holiday associated with trickor treats, costumes, fall festivals and parties. This is a game where the object is to retrieve an apple from a barrel or large bowl of water without using hands or feet. In those countries, people dressed up and carried lanterns made of turnips. Now that some of the history of halloween has been documented and it has been noted that a celebration on october 31st originated not with the church but with the the vigil of samhain, it may still be difficult to understand why october 31st is so significant.
And speaking of history, check out our favorite retro halloween costumes. Halloween celebrates a lot of things, including the lives of people who arent with us anymore. Halloween or all hallows eve, as it is sometimes referred to, is a lot different now than it may have been celebrated many centuries ago. The origin of halloween also canada day, the 4th of july, christmas, columbus day, easter, halloween, st patricks day, thanksgiving, veterans day, independence day resources and information. Halloween is not just about dressing up in costumes and asking for candy. Witches flying on broomsticks with black cats, ghosts, goblins, and skel. Halloween origin, history, and the bible answers in genesis. Other holidays, like christmas and hanukah, celebrate an event. I always made it into a small stapled packet that i handed out. New people have brought new traditions, and changed the old ones. This is why halloween is sometimes referred to as all hallows eve or all saints eve. The history of halloween 1 halloween is not exactly a typical holiday.
Halloween originated with the ancient celtic festival of samhain and is now a worldwide event. More and more adults are celebrating this festival as well. They called this celebration samhaim, under there beliefs they considered the day to be that of when spirits would roam the world. Halloween history and traditions the history of halloween. Some christians are not so happy that people celebrate halloween.
History of halloween halloween is a popular holiday that takes place on october 31. The history behind it and its costumes originated with the ancient celtic festival of samhain before the holiday found its way to. Oct 31, 2014 if you were an alien and came down to observe us earthlings for a week at the end of october, would halloween blow your little green mind. Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated each year on october 31. Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. Today we celebrate halloween as a festival full of excitement and fun for kids as they are involved in various activities such as making halloween costumes, trickortreating, telling scary halloween stories and eating sweets. Halloween is not celebrated in many countries around the world although many people known know about it. The custom of halloween guising remains strong, and in recent times has been boosted by the popularity of the horror movie genre in the usa. As a result of this, it is impossible to actually know exactly how it originated and the steps it went through to get to the modern traditions of parties, trickortreating, and the costumefilled celebrations we enjoy today. Halloween history and traditions this test of this presentation is 20032005 by john retzer permission is granted to use for non profit, public school classroom purposes. But halloween wasnt always about finding the latest greatest costume or collecting bags full of candy. Oct 27, 2014 the origin of halloween traces back to sacred gaelic celebrations called samhain sahwin originally from ireland. Costumes and gifts and bobbing for apples were preserved, incorporated into the new holiday.
I have printed it in both color and grayscale so either will work. Oct 27, 2016 the scene with the halloween party shows how to do it right and wrong according to the complex mores of american high school culture. When people moved from ireland and scotland to the united states, they started using pumpkins. Check out the history and some curious details of the spookiest holiday of the year. The students first have to guess which is which and then a teacher explains the meaning and they do. However, tracing back the origins of halloween can be quite confusing and frustrating. Halloween games page 2 along the course and back totheir six. Halloween history document transcript from communion with the dead to pumpkins and pranks, halloween is a patchwork holiday, stitched together with cultural, religious and occult traditions that span centuries. Irish children now go out to trick or treat, where previously the refrain help the halloween party was most usual.
Like many other holidays, halloween has evolved and changed. Many believe the festival of samhain to have been the beginning of the celtic year. From carving pumpkins to trick or treating, each ghoulish tradition has its own fascinating tale. Although we associate the tradition with irish celts, there is evidence that the neolithic people of ireland may have observed a similar festival that fell at the same time of year november 1. Publication date c1919 topics halloween publisher boston. It was celebrated by the celts, a group of people scattered throughout europe. While millions of people celebrate halloween without knowing its origins and myths, the history and facts of halloween make the holiday more fascinating. Oct 25, 2019 parents and kids alike are gearing up for halloween, scrambling to put the final touches on costumes and jackolanterns, not to mention stocking up on candy for trick or treaters. Origins of halloween october 30, 2014 october 24, 2015 posted in variety while the majority of folks around the world are preparing to dress up for one of the most lucrative retail holidays in this fallen world, halloween, i decided to write this article for all of you who are christians and do not know the origins of this tradition. The celtic people of premedieval europe lived in an area encompassing ireland, the united kingdom, and northern france.
The real origins of halloween easy printingreading text. History of halloween text for students to read page 4. They also had a tradition of giving food to the spirits. Trickortreating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door on hallowmas november 1, receiving. Oct 27, 2016 the een portion of halloween is a contraction of even, a word you might know as eve, which means end of the day.
The origin of halloween as we know it, began over 1900 years ago in england, ireland, and northern france. While the exact origin of our halloween celebrations remains disputed by scholars, most point back to the ancient celtic festival samhain pronounced sahwen as the precursor. If you were an alien and came down to observe us earthlings for a week at the end of october, would halloween blow your little green mind. Perhaps the bestknown of halloween games is duckingbobbing for apples. The een portion of halloween is a contraction of even, a word you might know as eve, which means end of the day. By katharine whittemore globe correspondent, october 26, 20, 6.
In the united states and canada, children dress in costumes and go trickortreating. Meanwhile, older folks tour haunted houses staged with phony bats, spiders, and goblins, and party until dawn. The origin of our western holiday known as halloween is found in the ancient celtic festival, samhain pronounced sowin. Halloween is a practice originated, as far as can be told, from the ancient celtic peoples. In scots, the word eve is even, and this is contracted to een or een. Origins of halloween and the day of the dead nehedsitement. In the 7th century, pope boniface iv introduced all saints day all hallow s day. Halloween falls on october 31st each year in north america and other parts of the world. Previous versions of this essay specifically contrasted the historical evidence with the absurd claims and urban legends used in most. The origin of halloween can be traced to this ancient pagan festival celebrated by celtic people over 2,000 years ago, states the world book encyclopedia.
Halloween originated in part as a celebration con nected with evil spirits and the dead. The tradition of halloween on 31 october comes from the ancient celtic festival of samhain. Put doublesided tape on the areas where you want the face to be placed. They remain a celebrated part of halloween to this day, many centuries later. Put a face on the pumpkin 1 pumpkin per six cut out of cardboard. It all began with the celts, a people whose culture had spread across europe, more than 2,000 years ago. Dead scary samhain is the pagan origin of halloween and its terrifying rituals include human sacrifices and pumpkins filled with burning human fat. The roots of our scary holiday go back thousands of years, nearly to the time of christ. This was the day and evening before all saints day, a holy day that was celebrated on november 1st. Hallowtide the holiday, probably from roots meaning summers end. Halloween parties for children feature fortunetelling, mock haunted houses, scary stories, and games, such as bobbing for. Learn about the jackolantern, trickortreating, halloween costumes and more. That is the purpose of this file, to make you aware of the dark side of halloween.
The origins of halloween the practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays dates back hundreds of years to the middle ages 5th15th century. Special issue halloween, 2016 pdf if theres a holiday made for makers, its halloween. The celts believed that the dead could walk among the living at this time. In this worksheet students read a text about the history of halloween and answer truefalse questions after the text. What do you think halloween will be like in another two thousand years. Oct 29, 20 on the halloween origin, some researchers claim that the holiday can be traced back about 2,000 years to the celts of europe, who occupied parts of ireland, the united kingdom, and northern france. I have researched this topic for more than a decade and halloweens occultic connection is. Trickortreating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go.
All hallows eve was eventually contracted to hallowe en, which became. The custom of dressing in grotesque costumes and making house visits to. There was nothing particularly symbolic about the origin of halloween games such as this. Sep 04, 2019 tracing the origin of halloween is not easy. It comes from a scottish term for all hallows eve the evening before all hallows day. Halloween is just around the corner, which means ghouls, ghosts, witches and goblins will be wandering the streets in search of tasty treats. Each year on october 31st, children dressed in fanciful costumes go doortodoor demanding candy from their neighbors. All hallows eve was used for the first time in the sixteenth century. Halloween comes from the nameall hallows eve, which means the evening before all saints day, celebrated on 1st november.
It was first observed on may for catholics to remember their dead saints. From presentday ireland to the united kingdom to bretagne brittany, france, the ancient celts marked this as one of their four most important festival quarter days of the year. The origins of halloween date back more than 2,000 years to the celtic festival of samhain pronounced. Each culture has its own reasons for celebrating halloween. Samhain is the pagan origin of halloween and its terrifying. With october 31st coming around the corner, i thought it would be interesting to find out what the origins of halloween were. At samhain, farmers brought livestock in from summer pastures and people gathered to build shelters for winter. Create 2 eyes, nose, mouth teeth, stem and a leaf for each pumpkin. They belief believe the holiday is unchristian because of its origin original as a pagan festival of the dead.
With extra paper, cut out and paint the pieces for each of the pumpkins. Halloween is an old tradition in ireland and scotland. The word halloween or halloween dates to about 1745 and is of christian origin. Originally, halloween was know as samhain, which was created by the celts. Not everyone celebrates halloween, but even still, it has a very interesting history. What is halloween and should christians celebrate it. All hallows eve, the evening before all saints day, began the time of remembrance. Because the movie halloween 1978 was on such a tight budget, they had to use the cheapest mask they could find for the character michael meyers, which turned out to be a william shatner star trek mask. This is a 6 page pdf file on the history of halloween. Originally, halloween was marked as a date that marked the end of the summer season. The word halloween comes from the name of a holiday from the 800s ad, called all hallows eve. Halloween has many easy easily identifiable symbols. Samhain was the celtic new year and they celebrated it on 1.
The origin of halloween from samhain to trickortreat. The origins of halloween go back even further, however. The origins of halloween celtic origins halloween origin. The pagan origin of halloween the name halloween comes from the all saints day celebration of the early christian church, a day set aside for the solemn remembrance of the martyrs. During samhain, the living could visit with the dead. This scene has continually put the night that is halloween in peoples minds since the film was released and has since been repeated on television screens around the world.
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