Halloween is the most popular holiday in the world, after Christmas (based on level-of-celebration and consumer spending) and, increasingly, the most lucrative. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend $13.1 billion on Halloween in 2025 despite higher prices for everything from candy to costumes to decorations (NRF, 1).
The modern observance, though based on the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, only became popular in North America in the 1950’s and, even then, was not observed nationally. Today, Halloween is the major event of the fall season in the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom and is celebrated by almost 40 other countries worldwide.
I can understand the allure. Halloween is my favorite event of the year and I live in a small village that, much to my delight, has always celebrated Halloween with lights, decorations, haunted houses, and lots of candy, parties, and all-out fun. People from neighboring towns flock to mine on Halloween night and I think of Staatsburg as the unofficial “Halloween Village” of the surrounding area.
Up until Covid arrived in 2020, Staatsburg seemed to spare no expense in celebrating Halloween. Since then, everything has toned down a bit, unfortunately, but it’s still a fun night of people observing traditions that go back decades, centuries, and further in observing rituals whose origins, to many, are unknown. The following are a select few Halloween traditions, some still observed and others that have become relics of the past, along with some “fun facts” about Halloween, to add to this year’s Halloween fun.
Samhain & Ghosts
The modern observance is understood as originating with Samhain, the Celtic New Year’s festival, but the beliefs and rituals associated with it most likely pre-date the arrival of Celts in Ireland around 2,500 years ago. Samhain (pronounced “sow-when”, “soo-when” or “sah-win”) means “summer’s end” and marked the transition between the light days of summer and the dark days of winter.
It was recognized as a time of transition and transformation and, as such, became a liminal space – an “in-between” – spiritually, during which the veil between the land of the living and that of the dead was thinnest and the spirits of the departed could cross over. Lost loved ones could appear, and were welcomed, but darker spirits – as well as those one had wronged in life or, at least, held a grudge over something – could appear as well.
To protect oneself against these unwelcome spirits, people would darken their faces with ash from bonfires (a practice known as “guising”) which developed into the custom of wearing masks. Once masked, one could pass as one of the dark spirits, avoid recognition by any ghost looking to avenge itself, and could recognize, and then reveal oneself, to the spirit of a lost friend or family member. In time, these beliefs and practices informed modern-day Halloween rituals including bonfires, costumes, parties, community festivals and, directly or indirectly, most if not all the familiar aspects of Halloween night.
Bonfires & Soul Cakes
Bonfires were an integral aspect of the Samhain festival and, after Christianity came to Ireland in the 5th century, the practice of burning the bones of the animals slaughtered for winter storage continued. The English word “bonfire” comes from this observance of lighting “bone fires.” Prior to the coming of Christianity, the fires celebrated transition/transformation and honored a given deity while, afterwards, they were lighted in honor of saints.
In the 8th century, Pope Gregory moved All Saint’s Day from 13 May to 1 November to correspond with the traditional date of Samhain and 31 October became All Saint’s Eve. By the 16th century, the practice of “souling” – when the poor of the town would go about knocking on doors asking for a soul-cake (soul-mass-cake) in return for prayers - had become a traditional aspect of All Saint’s Eve.
The promised prayers would be said to help the soul of the homeowner’s loved ones in purgatory or, after the Protestant Reformation (when purgatory was rejected), for the souls of those in the house. Receiving soul cakes in return for prayers influenced the modern-day practice of trick-or-treating and, as everyone knows, an important aspect of Halloween roaming, is the jack-o’-Lantern.
Jack-o’-Lanterns
Jack-o’-Lanterns came to the United States from Ireland. Originally, the Irish would hollow out and carve turnips, placing a lighted candle within to ward off the dark spirit of Stingy Jack, a con man who had tricked the devil into banning him from hell but was too evil to enter heaven, and so roamed the earth, carrying a turnip-lantern with a glowing ember from hell inside.
People would carry their own turnip-lanterns as they went about souling on All Saint’s Eve as the light was thought to ward off Jack’s spirit – known as “Jack of the Lantern” – which became Jack-o’-Lantern. Once the Irish were established in the United States, they chose the pumpkin over the turnip because it was easier to carve and, being larger, provided more light and, so, greater protection against dark spirits, whether Jack’s or others.
Halloween Colors & Trick-or-Treat
It has been claimed that the traditional Halloween colors of orange and black originate from practices like this one – setting out a lighted, carved orange pumpkin to drive away the dark spirits – but, actually, the colors have been traced back to the Samhain festival (or, at least, the festival as observed after Christianization) when black was associated with the death of summer and orange with the season of autumn, harvest, and the changing colors of the leaves.
The origin of Trick-or-Treating is debated but it seems clear the practice was influenced by “souling” and developed into asking for candy from a homeowner instead of a soul-cake and, instead of prayers, one tacitly promised not to vandalize the homeowner’s house. Halloween night by the early 20th century had become an evening of vandalism and mischief, often causing thousands of dollars in damage. This custom continued as “mischief night” – the evening before Halloween – still observed today, though usually in milder forms.
At some point between 1920 and 1927, though, an evening of destruction turned into going door-to-door extorting treats in return for promises the home would be left alone. The first mention of trick-or-treating in print comes from a newspaper in Blackie, Alberta, Canada in 1927, including the phrase “trick or treat” – but how this transition took place, or why, is unclear.
Candy Corn & Candy Cigarettes
Among the popular treats that filled up the trick-or-treaters’ bags were candy corn and candy cigarettes. Candy corn was invented in the 1880’s by the Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia but became popular after the Goelitz Company began distribution in 1898. Originally it was marketed under the name “Chicken Feed” with the slogan, “Something Worth Crowing For” and was a popular autumnal treat, not associated specifically with Halloween.
Candy production scaled down significantly during the Second World War because of sugar rationing and Halloween itself was suspended but, when trick-or-treating returned in the 1950’s, candy corn came back with it and was marketed directly to the holiday, becoming a staple of the event and, sometimes, reflecting the traditional Halloween colors with white added to the top.
Another popular treat was candy cigarettes, which first appeared in the 1930’s, remained popular through the 1970’s and, because they were sold relatively cheaply, became a trendy Halloween candy. Candy cigarettes were packaged in boxes resembling actual cigarettes and came in two sizes, a large “pack” of 10 or a smaller one of 4 and each candy stick was topped at one end with red or pink food coloring to give the impression of a burning cigarette.
Concerns arose, however, over these candies serving as a “gateway drug” to actual cigarettes, normalizing smoking among children, and they came to be marketed as “candy sticks” – no longer with the red tip – by the mid-1970’s. Candy sticks are still sold today, only now in boxes featuring superheroes or fantasy figures. I loved candy cigarettes as a kid. They were my favorite Halloween candy. I really can’t say whether they led to my life-long smoking habit because my younger brother, Jason, and younger sister, Charlotte, gobbled up as many faux Lucky Strikes, Camels, and Kings as I did and never took up smoking.
Halloween Carnivals & School Parades
A common Halloween event, no longer observed as in the past, was the Halloween Carnival which often included the Costume Parade in grade schools. On or around Halloween, schools would host carnivals featuring treats, costume contests, games, and bake sales and these would sometimes begin with – but almost always included – the Costume Parade.
Students were encouraged to come to school in costume and, at a certain time, one class would rise and walk to the next classroom where they would lead the students there on to the next, and then the next, until the whole school had joined the parade. Once the first class reached their classroom, they sat down while the others marched around them and out the door. As the parade reached each classroom, the same practice was observed until everyone was back where they began.
Halloween carnivals still take place but not in schools and the Costume Parade has become a thing of the past. The last Costume Parade and school carnival I experienced was sometime prior to 1975 and when I asked my daughter, Emily, about it when she was in grade school in the early 2000’s, she knew nothing of it – but, in its time, it was a lot of fun.
Parties & Food for the Dead
Halloween parties, however, are still popular and, although Samhain festivals had been going on for over 2,000 years before such parties began in the USA, the origin of the modern Halloween party can be traced to Elizabeth Krebs of Hiawatha, Kansas, USA – “the mother of modern Halloween” – who, in 1913, organized a party for the youth of the town to prevent them from vandalizing it. The first party was given at her home but, after attending, the young people still went off to vandalize homes, shops, and gardens.
In 1914, she expanded her party to involve the entire town, and this was a great success. For the first time in years, the people of Hiawatha woke up the morning of 1 November to their town intact. Krebs’ victory over vandalism and Halloween mischief was noted and adopted by other towns and community-wide Halloween events were born.
Halloween parties held in homes had long been observed and these included food for the dead. Since the spirits of loved ones could return on Halloween night, their favorite meal was prepared and then shared with guests. It was thought (and still is) that the returned spirit would appreciate watching others enjoy their favorite dish and also, of course, the practice served to memorialize the departed. My family has been joining me for Halloween parties at my house for almost 30 years now and I observe this practice every year with pizza and pasta dishes, a favorite of many I have lost, especially my late wife Betsy.
Bobbing for Apples & Marriage Rites
At these residential parties, and certainly those held in community centers, parks, and schools, a staple of Halloween entertainment was bobbing for apples. A large tub was filled with water and then bags of apples dumped in. Participants leaned over the tub, hands behind their backs, and “bobbed” for the apples, catching one between their teeth to win.
This practice is thought to have originated in ancient Rome at the Festival of Pomona, goddess of agriculture, and was brought to Britain by the Romans in circa 43 CE, becoming a late addition to the Samhain rituals. Bobbing for apples came to be associated with marriage in that winning the “bob” was taken as a sign one would be the first to marry. Apples used for bobbing were later peeled by young girls who would toss the peels over their shoulder. It was thought that, when the peels hit the floor, they would form the initials of the girls’ future husbands.
Bobbing for apples was considered loads of fun in the 1970’s, at least in my world, and the school-sponsored Halloween Festival always included a large, tin tub for bobbing. The great “fun” of the evening was to push your friend’s head down into the water as they bent over the tub and then run away before they recovered enough to know it was you.
Harvest festivals & Hayrides
Bobbing for apples might still go on somewhere but its popularity began to wane in the 1980’s as fewer people found it fun to dunk their faces into cold water chasing elusive fruit. Community-wide Halloween parties came to lean more toward Harvest Festivals with Halloween as one component. The harvest festival was nothing new. In North America, these had gone on since the 17th century and, in Europe, far longer.
The “new” Harvest Festival might include carnival rides and games, contests and parades, but almost always featured a hayride. A local farmer would volunteer time, tractor, wagon, and hay bales and take guests around the festival’s perimeter in a loop. Sometimes, these would be “haunted” hayrides and would serve the same purpose as the Haunted House: to scare participants through creatures hanging from trees or people in costume leaping out of the darkness.
Haunted Houses & Mazes
Haunted houses were once common Halloween fare – whether operated commercially or just in someone’s yard. People might set up a structure made of wood or cardboard on their lawn or open their homes to trick-or-treaters and scare them as they walked through. In my village, when my daughter was young, there were two haunted houses operated by my neighbors that were so much fun Emily still remembers them as a high point of Halloween.
Hay mazes were sometimes a part of the haunted-house-experience and sometimes were stand alone. The hay maze, like the haunted house, could be commercial or residential but, the larger and longer, the better. One could set up the maze with scary figures at points or costumed “creatures” leaping out of shadows or one could just let the people find their way through without scary perks.
The maze, or labyrinth, has long been associated with the concept of transformation and so, while people may have thought they were just having fun, the Halloween Hay Maze actually touched on the root meaning of Halloween, going all the way back to the Samhain Festival: transformation.
Conclusion
Halloween is, finally, a celebration of transformation, a recognition of the passing of time, of change, and an evening to pause with family and friends to remember the past, and those that have been lost, appreciate the present, and look forward to the future.
One of the purposes of tradition is to forge a link between the present and past, to establish rituals which, when observed, create a liminal space in which past is present, in which that which has been lost can be reexperienced, and from which one may draw strength and firm-up one’s foundation to continue on.
I don’t miss the Halloween traditions of the past that have gone away because they have been replaced by new ones – and these new ones will be replaced by still others. And this is as it should be with an event that has always, directly or indirectly, let us know that change is inevitable and, though often scary or painful, offers the possibility, the hope, of transformation and continuation – through this world and into the next.
