The history of All Saints Day; it’s not just about candy

BY KAHA G. – 15 YEARS OLD

Halloween is the night people dress up in scary and quite frankly wacky costumes. Candy is the main goal for all these sugar addicts (including myself), but you best be careful when giving too much candy to children because they’ll start bouncing off the walls in excitement. The sugar rushes through their veins, leaving the parents with a nightmare of a bedtime. However, this seemingly fun holiday isn’t as innocent as you may perceive it.

Let’s backtrack to get a good understanding of the history of this day. All Saints Day (Halloween) originates in the Samhain festival among the Celts peoples, who are members of an early Indo-European people from the 2nd millennium BCE (before the Christian Era; before the Common Era) to the 1st century BCE.

According to briannica.com, “During the Samhain festival the souls of those who had died were believed to return to visit their homes, and those who had died during the year were believed to journey to the otherworld. People set bonfires on hilltops for relighting their hearth fires for the winter and to frighten away evil spirits, and they sometimes wore masks and other disguises to avoid being recognized by the ghosts thought to be present. It was in those ways that beings such as witches, hobgoblins, fairies, and demons came to be associated with the day.”

After reading this article, will you allow your loved ones to celebrate this holiday, or just pop by your local dollar store and buy a big box of candy? The choice is yours.