Halloween

So yesterday was Halloween and it had me thinking about why we actually celebrate the holiday. Growing up in school you always did crafts dealing with pumpkins or witches, you always carved pumpkins to put outside as Halloween decorations, and you dress up as someone you have always wanted to be year after year to walk around and get tons of candy that is bad for you. After you collect your candy you go home and sort it all out and pick out the candy that you don't want and try to find someone to give it to. I never remember actually learning about the meaning of Halloween and why we celebrate it.

As I research what Halloween is about I have found many interesting details. Halloween actually means the day before All Hallows Day, a Catholic holiday commemorating Christian saints. It goes farther back to Ireland where it is known as Samhain the day that ends summer and starts winter. We wear costumes because of the medival practices of mumming where they wore costumes, sang, and went door to door praying for the dead in exchange for treats.

The history of Halloween seems interesting to me. Instead of going door to door praying for the dead we go door to door asking for candy. How did it go from praying to candy? It all seems mysterious about why we celebrate Halloween.