By William Schexnayder
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

During the evening of Oct. 31, kids of all ages venture onto neighborhood streets dimly lit by candles in carved pumpkins on a quest to collect as many cavity-forming candies as they can while dressed up as everything from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to Harry Potter.

Although the widespread celebration of Halloween may seem like a recent phenomenon, the origins of the holiday can be traced back more than 2,000 years to ancient European culture.

Halloween evolved from the Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts celebrated the New Year on Nov. 1. Samhain was a celebration of the years' harvest and marked the end of the summer growing season. It also marked the beginning of winter, the time of year often associated with death.

The Celts believed that on the eve of the New Year, the spirits of those who had died during the previous year would return to earth. On the evening of Oct. 31, Celtic priests would meet in the forest to light bonfires on sacred grounds and would disguise themselves so the spirits would not recognize them.

The Samhain celebration lasted for three days. In parades held during the celebration, people wore costumes made from animal skins. This festival became the first Halloween.

By about 43 A.D., Romans invaded and conquered much of the Celtic lands, bringing with them their culture and festivals. During the four hundred years the Romans ruled the Celts, two Roman festivals were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. This holiday was celebrated around Nov. 1.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had redefined Celtic celebrations. In 835 A.D., Pope Boniface IV and the Roman Catholic Church designated Nov. 1 All Saint's Day, a day to honor saints and martyrs. Later the church designated Nov. 2 All Souls Day, a day to honor the dead. Many historians say the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festivals with related church-sanctioned holidays. The festival of Samhain began to be called All-Hallows Eve, and eventually, Halloween.

For early new world settlers, attitudes toward the celebration of Halloween differed. Early English Puritans, settling in New England, rejected Halloween as a Catholic and pagan holiday. But other immigrants, such as the Irish and Scottish, continued to celebrate the holiday. As early superstitious beliefs in spirits subsided, Halloween became regarded mainly as a children's holiday.

Over time, cultures and beliefs of different groups mingled, and a distinctly American celebration of Halloween began to emerge. The holiday began to be celebrated nationally by the early 1900s.

America's tradition of trick-or-treating probably came from early All Souls Day parades and festivals in England. On that day, poor people in the community would beg for food and families gave out "soul cakes" in return for a promise that the beggars would pray for the family's dead relatives. This practice was eventually taken up by children, who visited the houses in their neighborhood in search of treats.

The tradition of dressing up in costume for Halloween also came from the idea that spirits of the dead roamed the earth on Halloween. To prevent the spirits from recognizing them while they went out to collect soul cakes, people wore masks and animal skins.

Trick-or-treating, in the American tradition, became especially popular in the United States by the 1950s. Today, Americans spend an estimated $8 billion on Halloween, making it the second largest commercial holiday.

Over the course of history, elements of different cultures' celebrations combined to become the holiday we celebrate today.

So if you start to feel annoyed at having to answer the door for the 24th time for trick-or-treaters begging for candy, remember that the tradition stretches back for hundreds of years.

Just be happy that the creatures knocking at the door are not actually ghosts who have come back from the dead. Or are they? The spirit of Halloween lives on.

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