Ready to put on your scariest costume? To carve and sculpt your jack-o-lantern and proudly exhibit it? To get lots of candies to satisfy small and big gourmands? On October 31, one celebrates Halloween. Major celebration in the US and the UK, the tradition has been growing in France for a few years now. But do you know the meaning and origins of Halloween? Take a seat, let us tell you about the story of Halloween.
Although the U.S. make it a point of honor of celebrating Halloween every October 31st, this celebration is said to originate from Ireland, about 2,500 years ago. Back in the days, Celts did not celebrate Halloween but Samain – or Samhain. In the Celt calendar, October 31 was considered as the last day of the year. That very night, Celts used to pay tribute to the dead and spirits.
During the celebration, Celts also used to wear scary costumes to scare ghosts away. Celts though fantastic beings were “visiting” the living during this very night. And these celebrations lasted for many years, until Irish colons brought this tradition with them to the United States, in the 19th century.
But what does Halloween mean? When analyzing the word, one discovers it is a short way to say “All Hallows Eve”, or “the evening before All Saints’” celebrated every November 1st.
And why have jack-o-lanterns become the very symbol of Halloween? A few people know but before it was a pumpkin, the star of Halloween was the turnip. This vegetable originates from the famous jack-o-lantern tale. This old Irish tale says the character is condemned to wander with a carved turnip used as his only light. But over the years, the turnip turned into the pumpkin. We must say this huge orange squash is actually harvested in the Fall. And you may have notice dit was easier to carve and sculpt a pumpkin than a turnip.
Since the 1920’s, Halloween grew into a more commercialized celebration, between the multiplication of always scarier costumes, candies and more recently, special parties.
