Halloween has its roots deep in Ireland

Have you ever wondered why every October some make a big deal out of digging out the middle of pumpkins and replacing them with candles, children run around begging for candy and adults suddenly start thinking it’s OK to dress like Elvis, among other strange things?

The origins of Halloween and many of its traditions aren’t new or even American, but rather pre-date Christ and started in Ireland, said Dr. Rhonda Knight, an associate professor of English at Coker College in Hartsville.

It started as a Celtic holiday called Samhain which is pronounced “sow” as in a female pig and “in,” she said.

The Celtic year ended Oct. 31, Knight said.

“It was this border time, the Celtic people really had this idea that borders were important. When something is neither this or that or both,” she said.

A main aspect of their celebration is still present in Halloween today and adds to the “spookiness of it,” she said.

“The belief was that if you died any time during the year your soul would actually live in the body of an animal until Oct. 31,” she said. “And that’s when the border between the world of the living and the world of the dead opened.”

All of the spirits that had been living in animals would be moving toward the world of the dead Oct. 31. The moving about of the spirits on this day is where the idea of the Halloween costumes originated, Knight said.

“The people who had to go out were afraid to go out because there were all these spirits who were roaming around, spending their last time on earth before they had to go to the world of the dead,” she said. “What they would actually do is wear masks so that people would think they were spirits, too.”

By 800 AD, Christianity had spread to Ireland where it had an influence on the region’s traditions.

The pope at that time wanted to rid the land of pagan festivals, so Samhain was changed to All Hallows Eve, Knight said.

“You can see how the words get aligned together for the word Halloween,” she said. “They called it the Eve of the Holy — hallow being holy— because Nov. 1 was now All Saint’s Day.”

Around the year 1000, the Catholic church declared Nov. 2 All Soul’s Day, an holiday for honoring and praying for the dead.

“It was celebrated by having big bonfires outside at night and people dressed up in costumes, often as their favorite saint, or angel or as a devil,” she said. “Again, we are back to this idea of dressing up.”

Trick or treating has its roots during the Progression when the poor went around asking for soul cakes, a certain type of bread people would bake on All Soul’s Day.

“You would offer to pray for someone’s dead relative if they would give you a soul cake,” she said.

Eventually, adults stopped participating in the event and left it to the children. The roaming about was called going a-souling, Knight said.

Soul cakes stopped being the treat of choice and householders eventually began handing out any type of food or drink.

“That’s kind of how we see the trick or treating today — the going around and the asking for something,” she said.

Learn more about Halloween including the origins of the Jack O’ Lantern by e-mailing Knight at .