History of Halloween: What do ghosts, candy, costumes and pumpkins have to do with each other?

29/10/2023 14 min

Listen "History of Halloween: What do ghosts, candy, costumes and pumpkins have to do with each other?"

Episode Synopsis

In this episode learn about Halloween's spooky origins as Samhain, an October 31st Celtic harvest festival featuring all the scariest things: mischievous fairies, ghosts, and taxes! Then learn how All Saints Day and All Souls Day got moved to this time of the year fusing them inextricably with the Celtic traditions resulting in new rituals like wearing white bedsheets and calling yourself a ghost, trick-or-treating, and turnip -carving. Finally, learn how these traditions were exported into America and forever changed into the pumpkin-obsessed candy-filled 12 billion dollar holiday we know and love today.

Sources:

 https://time.com/5434659/halloween-pagan-origins-in-samhain/


https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/13things/7448.html


https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/samhain