2,000 Years ago Celts
› Ireland › North France › United Kingdom
End of Harvest › New Years Eve
Winter was a time of death › No Heaters
› Snow › No electricity › No escape from the cold › No modern medicine › No refrigerator › No oven or stove
Celts believed that ghosts returned to earth on October 31st › Ghosts Caused trouble Ruined crops Helped Druids (priests) to predict the future
Druids built sacred bonfires › Burnt crops and animal sacrifices
Celts wore costumes › No costume stores › No sewing machines › WHAT WOULD YOU WEAR? › WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY WORE?
Druids built sacred bonfires › Burnt crops and animal sacrifices
Celts wore costumes › No costume stores › No sewing machines › WHAT WOULD YOU WEAR? › WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY WORE?
They wore animal heads and skins!
Romans took Celtic Territory › 43 AD
› Ruled Celtic territory for 400 years!
Festivals Combined › Feralia Romans remembered the dead › Honoring Pomona Roman goddess of Fruit and Trees “bobbing” for apples
Pope Boniface IV › May 13, 609 › Celebrate Christian Martyrs
Pope Gregory III › 732 AD › Saints are included › Holiday moved from May 13 to November 1
WHAT HAPPENS THE DAY BEFORE ALL MARTYRS DAY?
Celtic rights taken away and blended with Christian values All Soul’s Day
› November 2, 1000 › Day to honor the dead › Christian church attempted to replace Celtic
festival with a Christian holiday › Celebrated with bonfires and costumes Costumes were angels, saints, and devils Also called All-hallows (means all saint’s) Night before was called All-hallows Eve
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Celebration frowned upon in early American settlements › Protestant beliefs
WHAT IS A PROTESTANT? › A protestant is a Christian that is NOT
Catholic
Common place for Halloween celebration › Maryland › American Indians Learned from American settlers in Maryland
“Play Parties”
Fun Fact: Juliette Gordon Low was born on Halloween in 1860!
› Public events Celebrating the harvest › Neighbors shared stories of the dead, told
fortunes, danced, and sang together
Ghost stories Mischief Making
› Practical Jokes
Autumn Festivals became common › 1800s › Halloween still not celebrated in many places
New immigrants › 1850s
› Irish Immigrants Moved to America because of a famine in Ireland › Helped to make Halloween popular
everywhere in America
WHAT IS A FAMINE?
Dressing up in costumes Going from house to house
› Asking for food or money Eventually called Trick or Treating
Young women › Believed they could find the name of their
future husband
Tricks with yarn or mirrors
Halloween became about neighbors Halloween stopped being about witchcraft and ghosts Most common way to celebrate Halloween was to go to a party
› › › ›
No Trick or Treating Games Harvest Food Costumes
Frightening Halloween celebrations were frowned upon. Halloween was no longer religious
Baby Boom › 1950s
› Classroom Halloween Parties Too many kids to have parties at parks! › Trick or Treating began again! The only way the community could celebrate together Today, $6 billion is spent on Halloween
“All Souls’ Day parades in England › Poor people begged for food › Rich families gave poor people “soul cakes” Poor families promised to pray for the rich family’s dead relatives Encouraged by the church Called “going a-souling” Eventually only children did this Visited neighbors houses for beer, food, and money
SOUND FAMILIAR?
NOW
Ghosts are scary!
Black cats are bad luck Don’t walk under a ladder!
Boys love Halloween
THEN Ghosts were family and were friendly Black cats were witches in disguise NOTHING to do with Halloween – this was from the Egyptians! Halloween was more about girls finding husbands!!
Girls did not work › Many did not go to school
› Girls were to get married, have babies, cook,
and clean
Many Halloween traditions focused on helping girls find a husband or reassuring them that they would find a husband
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS?
Cooks hid rings in mashed potatoes › Girl who finds it will find love
Girls wrote names of suitors (possible husbands) on nuts › Girls threw nut into fireplace › If nut burned instead of popping, that would
be their husband
Girls would dream of husband on Halloween if they ate a special dessert
Threw apple peals over shoulders › Landing in the shape of the initials of their
husband
Stood in a dark room holding a candle › Looked in a mirror to see their husband’s
face near their shoulders
The first successful apple-bobber would be the first to marry
How will you celebrate this year?
Will you think about Halloween differently from now on?
What did you learn from this?
What do you like most?
What do you like least?