The History of "All Hallows Day"

By: Chris Kreiger

Posted: 10/23/08

In 1905 Americans found a new excuse to decorate their homes and festively dress up; that reason is Halloween. Since 1905 Americans have claimed the holiday as their own, making it the second most popular holiday of the year, short only to Christmas; however, the origins of the holiday have been seemingly lost in translation.

Halloween originated in Ireland and went by the name Oiche Samhain, meaning "End of Summer," and was celebrated as the Celtic New Year. The Gaelic holiday would soon run into trouble with the Catholic Church, considered sinful and deviant. To combat the pagan tradition, Popes Gregory III and IV would create All Saints Day from May 13 through Nov. 1.

Despite the Catholic influence, the Irish and the Scottish people continued following the tradition of carving turnips and rutabagas with scary faces and dressing up as ghosts and other mythical creatures. The Americas would stay oblivious to the holiday until the prudent puritans lost the battle against Halloween and it was able to surface from secrecy.

Halloween originally made its way to America through Scottish Canadian immigrants and pushed through into American tradition thanks to the large amount of Irish immigrants, looking for refuge from the great famine. The Irish and Scottish holiday was quickly adopted. Some American trademarks were added and Halloween began setting the stages to evolve into one of the biggest commercial holidays of the year.

Thanks to Hallmark, Halloween spread like wild fire across the U.S in the early 1950s, and would give the youth of the nation another candy consuming holiday to look forward to.