8 Facts You Never Knew About Halloween

It's one of the country's most unique and favorite holidays, but Halloween didn't get its start in the United States. Travel back in time with us (and we mean way back) to picture what some of the very first ghostly celebrations looked like. We can guarantee they didn't include candy and superhero costumes. 1. Celtic Origins Most scholars agree Halloween as we know it started some 2,000 years ago, when Celtic people in Europe celebrated the end of the harvest and the start of a new year in a festival called Samhain. It was also a time of communing with otherworldly spirits, with big bonfires lit in honor of the dead, The American Folklife Center explains. 2. Roman Intervention When the Romans had conquered most Celtic territory by 43 A.D., they brought their own fall festivals with them, according to History. Their October celebration called Feralia also commemorated the passing of the dead. 3. Christian Influence Fast forward a few centuries, and even more changes arrive. Several Christian popes attempted to replace "pagan" holidays like Samhain with events of their own design. By 1000 A.D., All Souls' Day on November 2 served as a time for the living to pray for the souls of the dead. All Saints' Day, assigned to November 1, obviously honored saints but it was also called All Hallows. That made October 31 All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. 4. English Traditions Despite the new religious focus, people in Old England and Ireland continued to associate the time with the wandering dead. They set out gifts of foods to please the spirits, and as time wore on, people would dress in scary costumes in exchange for treats themselves — a practice called "mumming," which is similar to today's trick-or-treating. 5. Colonial Festivities The the first similar celebrations in America predominantly arose in the southern colonies, History reports. People would celebrate the harvest, swap ghost stories and even tell each other's fortunes. However, those early fall festivals were known as "play parties" — not Halloween. 6. Irish Immigration The holiday really started taking off in the middle of the 19th century, when a wave of Irish immigrants popularized the celebration nationally with new superstitions and customs. While kids didn't trick-or-treat just yet, they did play plenty of pranks in the tradition of mischief-making. 7. Americanizing Halloween By the end of the 1800s, more communities pushed for a secular (and safer) set of rituals. People started holding Halloween parties that emphasized games, fall food and costumes over witchcraft and trouble making. 8. What We Know Today Trick-or-treating skyrocketed in popularity by the 1950s, when Halloween became a true, national event. Today, over 171 million Americans celebrate the holiday — and spend about $8.4 billion on it per year. Credits: goodhousekeeping.com Share this story on Facebook with your friends

7. Americanizing Halloween

8. What We Know Today

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