What is Halloween? Answering this question is not that easy! Today we know the festival primarily from the USA – with pumpkins and costumes. Various theories attempt to explain the origins.
Costume parties, grimaces in pumpkins and lots of sweets – these are the images we imagine when we think of Halloween. But the origin of the festival looked a little different… We explain here what the Pope and turnips have to do with it.
What is Halloween? The origin
It is believed that the custom originally developed from one of the Celtic annual festivals, Samhain. Hundreds of years ago, the Celts celebrated not only the harvest, but also the beginning of winter. While summer represented the time of life, winter represented the time of death. They believed in some kind of contact between these two worlds at this point and that the dead would then walk back on earth. To scare them off and mislead themthey dressed up in scary costumes and paraded through the streets in them. Fires along the way were used to keep evil spirits away. There are also said to have been small offerings in front of the houses to appease them.
Oh right! That’s why the festival is called Halloween…
Samhain has disappeared for many. But how did Samhain become Halloween? Another explanation can be found in the church: in the 9th century, Pope Gregory IV moved the feast day of All Saints from the Sunday after Pentecost to November 1st for the entire Western Church. On this day of remembrance, all saints are venerated, while on All Souls Day a day later, i.e. on November 2nd, prayers should be made for all the deceased and all the poor souls in purgatory. The eve of All Saints Day was called in English All Hallows’ Eve, from which over time the name Halloween was derived. The eve was celebrated primarily in areas of the British Isles that remained Catholic, such as Ireland. With the wave of emigration in the 19th century, the Irish brought their traditions to the United States of America, where the custom developed over time.
That’s how the grimace got into the pumpkin
Here, too, the myth goes back to the Irish: a man named Stingy Jack outwitted the devil in order not to go to hell. When he died, he was not accepted into heaven because of his sinful life, but the devil did not want him in hell either and sent him into the dark night with only a glowing piece of coal to show him the way. He put this in a hollowed-out turnip and has been wandering around the earth since time immemorial. That’s why the figure is also called Jack O’Lantern. In Ireland and Scotland, people began carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them in windows to scare away Jack O’Lantern and other evil spirits. The pumpkin heads came into play later!
Halloween in Germany
The custom is now known throughout Europe increasingly came to Germany in the 1990s. In this country, the festival is often celebrated with costume parties and Halloween decorations, such as decorated pumpkins or ghost figures, are also very popular – everything with a spooky factor, of course! Children in particular enjoy the scary spectacle and love dressing up. To make the party special for the little ones, exciting Halloween games should not be missing! Here we also show how you can make Halloween decorations, make your own Halloween costumes and carve a pumpkin.
October 31st is also Reformation Day, which is now a public holiday in some federal states in Germany. On the Protestant memorial day, Martin Luther and his 95 theses, which he posted on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, are remembered – the beginning of the church’s Reformation.
Sayings for the scary festival
Another custom for Halloween has developed: the young and old party guests go on a candy foray at night (or early evening) and go door to door. They say: “Trick, otherwise there will be treat!” or short “Trick or Treat?” (taken from the English “Trick or treat!”) and want to steal sweets. A spooky costume is of course a must when wandering through the night! If you don’t give anything, you’re in for a (harmless) prank! So if you want to escape the practical joke, you should stock up on sweets! 😉
Funny sayings for Halloween
- We are the loud little monsters. Give us something and we’ll stop screaming.
- Today all spirits are awake. All the witches on the roof, monsters sneaking around the house. So give out something sweet quickly!
- Ghosts scream, witches laugh, give us sweets, otherwise there will be a crash!
- We are little spirits, we like to eat paste, if you don’t give us anything, we’ll stay stuck here.
- We howl, hiss, scream and dance like crazy.
You can find these and more in the Halloween sayings. And here we have put together beautiful Halloween ideas for a Halloween party.