What is the history of halloween?

Ive read the other posts and the only thing missing is the lantern explanation. As it says in some of the info, the ancient Celts had their ceremonial fire... at the end of the celebration/ceremony.. each family would carry back an ember from the fire, to light their hearth again. To carry this ember they used a hollowed out turnip, hence the start of the lantern tradition. Turnip lanterns are still sometimes made here in Scotland. When Scots/Irish emigrated to the US, they took their Hallowe'en traditions with them, including the turnip lantern. At some point in time pumpkins started being used instead (if any of you have ever tried making a turnip lantern you'll know why!) Happy Hallowe'en. :)

Originally it was a pagan holiday, all hollows eve, when they would worship the devil, and waaaaaaaaaay back when (I can't remember how long ago now, like the 1600's I believe) The pope decided to make all pagan holidays christian holidays. So even holidays like christmas and easter are actually celebrated on pagan holidays (not allot of people know that) The tradittion of halloween in america actually began in the 1800's when the Irish began to immigrate to the US because of the potatoe famine in Ireland. See in Ireland it was tradition on halloween for children to dress as ghouls and go door to door asking for crackers, and in return for them they would say a prayer for you dead loved one's, if you didnt give them a cracker (a treat) then your loved one's that had passed away would be awakened from their peacful rest and tourmented until the next year.

October 31 is the most important day in the satanic year. It marks the Celtic new year, and is always at the end of the growing season, thus it became the "Festival of Death." On this day, the god of the Celtics was to have called up the spirits of the wicked dead who had died during the past year. At the same time, other evil spirits arose and went about the countryside harassing the people. On October 31, the Celtics expected to be harassed by ghosts, evil spirits, and demons; and it was no fun and games to them! They would light bonfires to guide the spirits to their own town and to ward off evil spirits. Also check out this site: http://www.apfn.net/Messageboard/11-03-01/discussion.cgi.65.html

Like a JILLION ppl keep asking this.. search it up man... stop asking us PLEASE!

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter. By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween. By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

I think it has been changed in a silly , but frequently also cruel way, and has lust its original meaning, which was meant for the pore and kids in the hard winter time whit masks to collect some food or sweets, without losing their anonymity. it was never intend to scare people or kids, and turcher the defenseless animals which some do. God help them,

I was going to cut and paste the whole story, but you'd still be reading it by next halloween! So here's a link. http://www.theholidayspot.com/halloween/history.htm

It is best explained here>http://www.gcards.com/halloween/history.html

http://www.history.com/minisites/halloween/