Costumes, pumpkins everywhere, children asking for sweets and horror movies. A calendar is not needed to know that Halloween has arrived. Although this popular date has become a key commemoration of the western calendar, its origins date back to thousands of back years, when the Celts celebrated the arrival of the New Year and that little had to do with the festival full of paraphernalia and decorations that we know today. To understand a little more about the evolution of this date full of scares, ghosts and witches, We review the origins of Halloween.
What is Halloween's origin?
The origin of this celebration dates from about 2 thousand years ago, when The Celts celebrated the first of November The Samhain, his New Yearaccording to the Smithsonian Museum. During this transition it was believed that spirits and other creatures, such as demons and fairies, they wandered through the earth in their passage to the beyond. The fact that Halloween is celebrated in full autumn and is linked to the proximity of winter, is because the celebration of the Celtic New Year was carried out for dismiss Lugh, the God of the Sun and get ready for the season of longer nights.
The celebration was surrounded by mysticism and, according to the American Folklife Center from the United States, included some rituals such as animal sacrifices and meetings around bonfires such as One way to give back to deities. To scare away the spirits, It has been pointed out that the Celts placed masks Or they used some skins as a costume, to try to distract the creatures that roamed during those dates.
One of the characteristics that marked the evolution of the Celtic celebrations, was The rise of the Roman Empirethat by conquering the Celtic territory, it made the Samhain considered a pagan celebration. This also implied that it began to mix with other similar festivities of Roman origin. Already in the seventh century, by decree of Pope Bonifacio IV, he aligned with the All Saints Day Festivity. However, the Celts found a way to turn it around and maintain their celebrations, which they made on the eve of All Saints' Day, where he obtained the name in English All Hallow's Evewhich eventually evolved to Halloween.