From Saintly to Spooky: The Christian Origins of Halloween

For many people, Halloween is simply a night for binge-watching scary movies, downing copious amounts of candy, and dressing up in costumes ranging in variety from Princess Peach to Michael Myers. For more superstitious folks, this night is one of visitation from the dead and evil spirits. However, the actual history of Halloween shows that it was once a feast day with much more—and surprisingly Catholic—substance. So how did it come to have a negative connotation to many Christians today?

The name “Hallowe’en” itself is an abbreviated contraction of the original title, “All Hallow’s Eve”, referring to the day preceding the Catholic feast All Saints’ Day (traditionally called “All Hallows”) on which Catholics remember and honour the Church’s canonized saints. This feast day, instituted by Pope Gregory III in the 7th century, was meant to transform the Celtic pagan festival Samhain (pronounced “SAW-in”). On this day by which the Irish marked the end of their calendar year, the veil between the living and the dead was supposedly drawn aside, allowing spirits to walk the earth. When the Catholic Church went about evangelizing nations, it was common for new feast days to be intentionally made to coincide with pagan celebrations in an effort to “Christianize” the day, thus the intentional consecration of November 1. Later on, November 2 was dubbed All Souls’ Day and dedicated to praying for all deceased Christians.

In addition to lending Halloween its current date, Samhain also loosely inspired the practice of donning frightening costumes. Though the original purpose for wearing illusive masks was to confuse any malevolent spirits seeking to cause mischief, through the Christian transformation of November 1, it became more of a fun tradition than a necessary precaution.

Also from Ireland comes the tradition of carving Jack-o’-lanterns, though the iconic orange gourd was not always the standard medium. Originally, the Celts would place lit candles in hollowed out vegetables, often turnips, in hopes of manifesting the preservation of the bountiful harvest goods through the winter and, later on, scaring off the greedy spirit of “Stingy Jack”. 

As for trick-or-treating, that came from the Celtic tradition of leaving bits of the harvest out for wandering spirits in order to placate their desires. With the Catholic influence in Ireland and England came a change: poor people would be able to knock door-to-door and beg for bits of the harvest in exchange for prayers for the household’s deceased. Later, around the 1800s, children would make this practice their own, instead asking for treats in exchange for the recitation of poems, jokes, and songs—thus, “trick-or-treating” was born! Following World War 2, when materials for costumes and the luxury of sugar were back in supply, the light-hearted activity became a profitable opportunity for large corporations to cash in.

Enlightened with this history of the now-commercialized holiday, young Christians and non-Christians alike who are skeptical of participating due to religious questions about the spooky night can rest easy knowing that the many staple traditions that exist now all evolved from the establishment of a Catholic feast day. This celebration intentionally preserved certain cultural traditions and, rather than get rid of them altogether, gave them a more Christian twist. Therefore, the wholesome customs of Halloween night are not at all dangerous to the Christian’s spiritual life in the slightest, and can be freely partaken apart from the ancient pagan rituals.