HALLOWEEN

Origins and Traditions

 ORIGINS

Halloween began two thousand

years ago in Ireland,
England, and a part of
France with the ancient
religion of the Celts
 ORIGINS

In that day, they honored the dead people

and it marked the beginning of winter and
the coming of the ´Dark Half of the year.
This festivity was called Samhain (pronounced
si-win)
 ORIGINS

As Christianity spread in Europe in the 9th century, the

church declared November 1st All Saints Day (also called All-
hallows) to honor saints who did not yet have their own day
of homage.

The night before was known as

All Hallows Eve.

Years later these two words joined together to one word

HALLOWEEN
 TRICK – OR - TREAT

We can find the origins of trick-or-

treating on All Souls Day, when early
Christians went door to door asking
for "soul cakes”, in return they said a
pray for the their relative soul
 COSTUMES

People used to believe that on All Hallows

Eve, the door between the dead and the
living was open, allowing spirits to re-enter
the world and possess the living so people
wore costumes of demons and ghosts to
avoid them
 JACK – O - LANTERN

Jack-o-lanterns originally were turnips, not

pumpkins. According to the legend, a man named
Jack who once tricked Satan so when he died he
wasn’t able to go heaven or hell and He was
condemned to live in purgatory, with one lantern
to light his way. People called them JACK OF
THE LANTERN
This is why we put candles inside carved pumpkins
at Halloween