The word ‘Halloween’ has changed throughout the centuries. Usually, when students think of Halloween they think about trick or treating and dressing up for costumes, which is true, but surprisingly it was not always like that. 

Two thousand years ago an ancient civilization in Ireland known as the Celtics celebrated their new year on November 1st. For them, this new year was the start of a new harvest. During the festival, they would mainly dress up in costumes to rid themselves of beasts and angry spirits. They would also dance around the bonfire and celebrate the offerings of the new harvest. 

However, it was not always sunshine and rainbows. For instance, October 31st marked the day of the Samhain. On this day the Celtics believed that the boundary between the land of the living and the land of the dead would be broken. They believed ghosts would kill the harvest crops and that it would also bring Celtic priests visions.

Other than these visions, the priests would build sacred bonfires, which allowed everyone in the village to sacrifice animals and crops to Celtic deities. At the end of this festival, they re-lit their regular fires using the ashes of the ancient bonfire to help protect them from the winter.

In contrast to Celtic rituals, later in history during the 1840s, Halloween was mostly celebrated in the southern states of America. During this time, Halloween was considered ‘Hallows Eve. The first celebrations included ”play-parties” in which they would come together to tell stories about the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, and dance. 

Now in the modern era, Halloween has become quite popular. From jack-o-lanterns to spooky costumes this holiday sparks lots of joy for students and families around the globe. Students were asked what they enjoyed most about Halloween.

Junior Sarai Sheilds explained that ” [Her] favorite part about Halloween is dressing up as different characters and putting up all the decorations.”

Halloween decor is frightening and fun at the same time. Students will see man-eating zombies to spine-chilling ghosts in many different places such as front yards, garages, and even haunted houses. Some kids love the thrill of horror movies and scary haunted houses.

“It’s fun because I get to dress up,” sophomore Laik Jolles stated.

Decorations are not the only thing that people are looking forward to, but instead, it’s the costumes! Some students still dress up in high school since it’s fun to come up with unique and imaginative costumes. Many are dressing up this year and students are even hoping to see teachers dress up as well.   

Halloween has come a long way from ancient civilizations two thousand years ago. From ancient sacrifices to now trick or treating, Halloween has undergone a lot of changes. With this in mind, get your witches’ hats and your vampire teeth because Halloween is here. 

If you want to research more about this topic visit History.com.