As we close out October, Halloween is once again upon us. A time when our inner child surfaces and we can have fun dressing up and trick or treating.
Halloween, a word dating to the 17th Century Scotland, is also known as
All Hallow’s Eve, or holy evening. The
tradition is believed to have begun with the ancient Celtic harvest festival of
Samhain. Eventually it also became
rooted in the
Christian tradition.
Halloween did not arrive in America until the mid-19th Century. Dressing up in costumes grew in popularity in the early 20th Century.
With the passage of time the holiday and means of celebration have developed into the holiday we have today. However, most of our current celebrations are richly steeped in tradition.