The origin of Halloween

Halloween is a festival of pagan origin that is celebrated on the night of

October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day, and that has its roots in the
ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "sow-in"), which
means " end of summer "and was held at the end of the harvest
season in Ireland to start the" Celtic New Year ", coinciding with the
autumn solstice. During that night it was believed that the spirits of the
deceased walked among the living, and held sacred feasts and rites
that included communication with the dead. In addition, it was
customary to place a lit candle in the windows so that the dead would
"find their way".

The true origin of this Anglo-Saxon festival is millenarian and of varied

origin. Halloween has a Celtic root and a Roman one. The Romans
dedicated the festival called Feralia to the rest and peace of the dead,
making sacrifices and raising various prayers to their pagan gods. Also
the Romans dedicated a festivity to Pomona, the goddess of crops and
fruits, whose symbol is an apple - note that one of the traditional
games of Halloween is the game of biting the apple (bobbing for
apples) -. But previously, already the Celtic peoples of Ireland, Wales,
Scotland and northern France, celebrated the festival called Samhain.
Samhain or La Samon was a festival that took place between the end
of October and the beginning of November, a ritual that celebrated the
end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. The druids, true
priests or Celtic shamans, believed that on a certain night, that of
October 31, witches enjoyed greater vitality, the druids themselves
were given the gift of guessing the future, the limits between the world
of alive and the world of the dead disappeared completely, and even
that the ghosts of the dead came from the other world to take with
them the living. Therefore, on the night of Samhain the druids prepared
huge bonfires and made spells, trying to chase away evil spirits, and
people left sweets or food at the door of their houses, in the
superstition that the deceased, to whom the legends they attributed to
them the authorship of the cruellest atrocities, they would leave happy
The origin of Halloween
and leave them alone.