The Origins of Halloween: From Samhain to Day of the Dead
- laura zibalese
- Sep 26
- 6 min read
The History of Halloween:
From Samhain to Trick-or-Treat
Halloween is almost here! 🎃 A holiday filled with costumes, candy, and mystery — but also one with ancient roots stretching back thousands of years.
Behind the jack-o’-lanterns and haunted houses lies a story of Celtic harvest rituals, Roman traditions, medieval practices, Christian adaptations, and even celebrations from across the globe. Let’s explore the history of Halloween, from its origins in the festival of Samhain to the holiday we know today.
Origins of Halloween: Samhain
The word Halloween comes from All Hallows’ Evening — the night before All Saints’ Day. But its roots go deeper into the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sah-win), meaning “summer’s end.”
Around 500 BC, the Celts marked October 31 as the close of harvest and the start of winter — their New Year. On this night, they believed the veil between the living and the dead grew thin. Spirits could cross over, bringing blessings… or mischief.
Families extinguished hearth fires and cleaned their homes.
At sunset, clans lit massive bonfires as offerings to the gods.
Animals and crops were symbolically sacrificed.
People wore masks and costumes to honor ancestors, disguise themselves from malevolent spirits, or give thanks to the gods of harvest.
Costumes and Spirits
Costumes at Samhain served three purposes:
To honor the dead — souls released from the Otherworld.
To hide from spirits seeking revenge or trickery.
To thank the gods and goddesses who blessed fields and flocks.
The Celts also left food and drink outside their doors to appease wandering spirits — the early seeds of modern trick-or-treating.
Halloween and Samhain are powerful times to connect with spirit. Whether you want to honor ancestors, explore past lives, or receive guidance for the year ahead, I’d be honored to walk with you.👉 Book your Halloween Psychic Reading here
Divination at Samhain
Because the veil between worlds was thin, Druid priests and shamans often performed divination during Samhain. Methods included:
Casting bones.
Reading ogham sticks.
Scrying with fire, water, or leaves.
Spirit communication (what we’d now call channeling).
For a people deeply dependent on the natural world, these readings offered hope and guidance for the harsh winter ahead.
From Celts to Romans
By 43 AD, Rome had conquered Celtic lands. They merged Samhain with two festivals:
Feralia: a late October day honoring the dead.
Pomona’s Day: celebrating the goddess of fruit and trees, symbolized by the apple.
Pomona’s influence likely gave rise to the Halloween game of bobbing for apples.
Christian Adaptations
In the 800s AD, the Church sought to Christianize pagan traditions. Pope Boniface IV established All Saints’ Day on November 1, with October 31 becoming All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween). Later, November 2 was designated All Souls’ Day.
Together, the three days — All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day — became known as Hallowmas.
Souling and Trick-or-Treating
By the Middle Ages, the custom of “souling” took hold. Poor people went door to door on Hallowmas, offering prayers for the dead in exchange for food.
Shakespeare even references the practice in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), mocking a character for “puling like a beggar at Hallowmas.”
Souling eventually evolved into modern trick-or-treating. Children began dressing up and visiting homes, receiving sweets instead of bread or coins.
Halloween Today
From Samhain to Hallowmas to today’s Halloween, the holiday has transformed — but one thread remains: the blending of the living and the dead, the sacred and the playful.
For some, Halloween is a spiritual night to honor ancestors. For others, it’s a chance to dress up and enjoy the mystery of the season.
✨ Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between: maybe on this one night each year, the spirits do walk among us — if we are willing to notice.
Día de los Muertos: Mexico’s Day of the Dead
While Halloween grew from Celtic and Christian traditions, other cultures also mark late October and early November as a time to honor the dead. One of the most famous is Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), celebrated in Mexico and many Latin American countries.
History and Origins
The roots of Día de los Muertos stretch back thousands of years, to the Aztec and Nahua peoples. These ancient civilizations believed death was part of the natural cycle of life. Instead of mourning, they honored the spirits of loved ones through offerings, food, and music.
When Spanish colonizers arrived, the tradition blended with Catholic observances of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, creating the modern holiday celebrated on November 1 and 2.
Traditions of Día de los Muertos
Altars (Ofrendas): Families build home altars decorated with marigolds, candles, food, and photos of the departed.
Marigolds (Cempasúchil): Called “the flower of the dead,” marigolds are believed to guide spirits back to the living world with their vibrant color and scent.
Sugar Skulls (Calaveras): Brightly decorated skulls symbolize both the sweetness of life and the inevitability of death.
Food and Drink: Pan de muerto (bread of the dead) and favorite dishes of the deceased are offered.
Celebration in Cemeteries: Families gather at gravesites, bringing music, picnics, and prayers, transforming cemeteries into places of love and remembrance.
Rather than a night of fright, Día de los Muertos is a joyful celebration of memory, love, and connection — a reminder that our ancestors remain close to us.
Similar Celebrations Around the World
Halloween and Día de los Muertos aren’t alone — many cultures around the globe hold ceremonies for the dead at this same time of year:
China: The Hungry Ghost Festival honors ancestors and offers food to wandering spirits.
Japan: Obon Festival in August features lanterns and dances to guide ancestral spirits home.
Ireland & Scotland: Samhain continues to be celebrated in modern pagan and Wiccan traditions, with rituals, fire ceremonies, and divination.
Cambodia: Pchum Ben is a 15-day festival honoring seven generations of ancestors.
This global resonance shows that across time and place, people have always felt a need to honor the dead as autumn turns to winter.
Final Thoughts
Halloween’s journey from Celtic bonfires to modern candy bowls shows us how traditions evolve — yet still preserve echoes of ancient wisdom. What was once holy pagan became holy Christian, and is now secular fun… but the mystery of Samhain lives on.
And while Halloween offers thrills and chills, Día de los Muertos reminds us to meet death not with fear, but with memory and love. Together, these holidays reveal a timeless truth: the bond between the living and the dead is never fully broken.
A Deeper Mystery: Could These Traditions Trace Back to Atlantis?
Most historians trace Halloween and Día de los Muertos to Celtic and Aztec roots, later shaped by Christian influence. But what if there’s an even older layer beneath these traditions?
Many myths across the globe — from Egypt to Mesoamerica to Ireland — speak of a great cataclysm, a flood, or a lost golden age. According to some accounts, the destruction of Atlantis occurred around October 31–November 1.
If true, the timing is striking. Could the mass grief, fear, and spiritual rupture of that event have imprinted itself so deeply that survivors carried it into every land they fled to? Over time, those memories may have evolved into rituals of honoring the dead, warding off spirits, and marking the thinning of the veil between worlds.
Perhaps the bonfires of Samhain, the altars of Día de los Muertos, and the offerings of All Souls’ Day all share a hidden root: a night of collective mourning when thousands of souls crossed at once, and humanity remembered.
Whether you see this as history, myth, or mystery, it invites us to honor these traditions not only as cultural rituals, but as echoes of our shared human story.
While historically speculative, my research point here and I find it a bit fascinating.
🎃 Book a Psychic Reading for Halloween or Samhain
Halloween and Samhain are powerful times to connect with spirit. Whether you want to honor ancestors, explore past lives, or receive guidance for the year ahead, I’d be honored to walk with you.👉 Book your Halloween Psychic Reading here
Thank you for reading - groundedpsychic.com
Happy Halloween! Or as the Ancients would say Happy Samhain!
Don't forget to set out goodies for the visiting spirits!
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