America is a melting pot of cultures from all over the world. A nation of people from many lands, our holidays tend to blend bits and pieces from different traditions into one American celebration. Halloween is one of the best examples of a holiday with a rich heritage of blending. We know Halloween as a time when children dress up in scary masks and costumes, prowling the streets at night in search of candy and excitement. How did Halloween get started? Where did all of this dressing up come from, and whose idea was it to reward each masquerader with a treat?

Halloween's origins date back to the Celts, who lived in what is now known as England, northern France, and Ireland. It was the Celts who traditionally celebrated a holiday called Samhain, pronounced "Sah-wen". According to Denise Stout, "Samhain was celebrated on the night before the New Year began, marked the end of the harvest season, and the beginning of the cold winter"(26). It was believed that on this night, witches and ghosts ruled and that the souls of the dead would rise again to visit places where they had lived. De

Incorporated, September 1997: 25-29.

In the late 1800's, nearly 7.4 million immigrants came to America bringing their European customs with them. Seven hundred thousand Irish Catholics came over during the seven-year potato famine alone. According to Timothy Roberts "These immigrants may have brought their customs with them, but once they saw how plentiful pumpkins were in the New World, it didn't take them long to start hollowing out jack O'lanterns instead of turnips"(45).

Roberts, Timothy. The Celts in Myth and Legends. New York, NY:

Later, when Roman conquerors combined their own celebration of the dead with Samhain. November 1 was officially named as "All Saints" or "All Hallows Day", the evening before "All Hallows Even" in the 800s. According to Denise Stout "Despite the churches attempt to sway the people to the contrary, tradition and myth prevailed; people kept to their beliefs in the wandering of the dead on this evening" (27). (This is probably how ghosts came to be associated with Halloween.)

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