What Is The Meaning Of Halloween

The history of halloween goes all the way back to a pagan festival called samhain.

What is the meaning of halloween. Halloween s origins date back to the ancient celtic festival of samhain pronounced sow in. In fact a lot of the things we do on halloween predate christianity entirely. If you think of halloween you probably think of scary carved pumpkins all kinds of fancy dress and children asking for sweets.

And if you think of a country that celebrates halloween you probably think of the united states first. On the halloween origin some researchers claim that the holiday can be traced back about 2 000 years to the celts of europe who occupied parts of ireland the united kingdom and northern france 2 it was a pagan festival called samhain pronounced sow in that celebrated more or less the honor of the dead and involved the offering. In scots the word eve is even and this is contracted to e en or een over time all hallow s e v en evolved into hallowe en although the phrase all hallows is found in.

The origins of halloween. The word hallowe en means saints evening it comes from a scottish term for all hallows eve the evening before all hallows day. The meaning of halloween today is far removed from its darker origins in ancient britain ireland and northern france when people believed it was a night when the dead literally returned to the.

While it takes its name from all saints day modern halloween is actually a combination of several different traditions. The word halloween comes from all hallows eve and means hallowed evening hundreds of years ago people dressed up as saints and went door to door which is the origin of halloween costumes and trick or treating. The celts who lived 2 000 years ago mostly in the area that is now ireland the united kingdom and.

The word halloween or hallowe en dates to about 1745 and is of christian origin.