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As a pagan tradition dating as far back as 2,000 years, the commonly accepted North American custom of Halloween encompasses some rather uncommonly known facts and beliefs, such as in England where white cats are believed to be bad luck — the polar opposite in color of black cats who have garnered a bum rap in the conviction that they were witch’s underlings that protected their master’s dark powers.

Photo Christina Rutz

Halloween is the 2nd largest commercial holiday in North America next to Christmas, with annual sales of candy averaging 2 billion dollars, and costume sales exceeding 6 billion dollars — 62% of that spent on adult oriented costumes.

Masks to Ward off Evil Spirits
The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits — both harmless and harmful — to pass through. The family’s ancestors were honored and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off by wearing costumes and masks to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm.

Photo Steve Chasmar

In Scotland the dead spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled, or blackened faces.

Costumes and Treats
The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door-to-door for treats on holidays dates back to the Middle Ages. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1st), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2nd). It originated in Ireland and Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy.

Photo Paul Sapiano

The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in North America occurred in 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported that it was normal for children to go street ‘guising’ on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., dropping in on shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs.

Photo Sharon Pruitt

The custom of wearing costumes and masks at Halloween goes back to Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them.

The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930′s when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in the U.S.

Jack O’ Lanterns
The souling practice of commemorating the souls in purgatory with candle lanterns carved from turnips became adapted into the making of jack-o’-lanterns. In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.

Photo 663highland

The American tradition of carving pumpkins preceded the Great Famine period of Irish immigration and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.

Games of Divination
Some games customarily played at Halloween are forms of divination. One traditional Scottish form of divining a person’s future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over their shoulder. The shape that the peel lands in is believed to be the first letter of the future spouse’s name.

Halloween greeting card from 1904 depicting divination of a woman looking into a
mirror in a darkened room hoping to catch a glimpse of the face of her future husband.
Image author unknown

Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror — but if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Photo Steve Chasmar

Origin of Halloween
The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even — evening, the night before All Hallows Day.

Up through the early 20th century, the spelling ‘Hallowe’en’ was frequently used, eliding the “v” and shortening the word.

Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (the feast of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556.

A natural-born costumer, the Halloween Pennant Dragonfly. Photo Michael Hensley

Sources: Online MBA and Wikipedia

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