The night of Oct. 31 means different things to different people.
For kids of the trick-or-treating age, it's a magical night where you don a new identity, go door-to-door in your neighborhood and rack up candy by the bagful. For those of us in college, it becomes something much bigger — a string of nights filled with raucous parties and an air of "anything goes."
While the festivities remain constant year after year, Halloween keeps changing. And if it's constantly evolving, where did this revered day of irreverence get its start? Time to hit the history books.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Halloween is a loose interpretation of the 16th Century Scottish holiday "All Hallows Even," the night before All Hallows Day, the Scots version of All Saints Day. Most historians point to a mixture of this and the Celts tradition of Samhain as the holiday's true origin, where both the Celts and the Gaels would hold festivals to celebrate summer's end. These practices were passed through the generations and made their way worldwide through immigration in later centuries.
Alright, so the time of year now makes sense. But why has the soliciting of candy become standard fare for Halloween?
This activity dates back even earlier, deep into the Middle Ages, when poor Irish and English children would go door to door the night before All Souls' Day, then held on Nov. 2, asking for food in exchange for prayers for the souls of the dead — that explains the theme of death purveying the celebration.
So it seems we can attribute the majority of the 21st Century edition of Halloween to Anglo-Saxon Europe. But all of the aforementioned traditions are rooted heavily in Christianity and the powers of God. If that's the case, why does the devil get so much play in how we dress and decorate?
For the answer to that, we must look to our neighbor to the south — Mexico. The country's annual Dia de los Muertos celebration, which translates to Day of the Dead in English and takes place on Nov. 1 and 2, features much more demonic imagery, much of which has been infused into the American adaptation of Halloween.
So what's our verdict? Halloween is a melting pot of practices from various cultures, much like the United States itself, that has been boiled down to an evening of mischief that people young and old look forward to. When you find yourself out having a good time this Halloween night, tip your cap — or mask — to all those who helped make the holiday what it is today. And to the fine people at Spencer's Gifts, of course.