Halloween originated more than 2,000 years ago. Europe's Celtic people celebrated their New Year's Day on November 1.
On the eve - what we know as Halloween - spirits were believed to walk the Earth as they traveled to the afterlife.

The Origins of Halloween

According to the American Folklife Center, Celts often wore costumes to confuse spirits. Celts also wore masks or blackened their faces to impersonate dead ancestors.
An early form of trick-or-treating involved Celts, costumed as spirits, to have moved from house to house, exchanging food and drink for silly acts.

Halloween Costumes

Samhain, the Celtic peoples New Year's Day, was changed by the seventh century Pope Boniface IV to All Saint's Day, or All Hallows' Day. Later it was name Halloween.
European immigrants brought Halloween to the United States, but it only became more known in the 1800s, when Irish-American immigration increased.

All Saint's Day

Some Halloween spook stories continue to surface, although there is little substance behind it.
Examples include satanic cults that sacrifice black cats on Halloween. Another is candy tainted by poisons, needles, or razor blades. There are no substantiated reports of a child being killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up while out trick-or-treating.

Halloween Urban Legends

<figure><picture><source srcset="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.133.1.jpg 133w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.152.1.jpg 152w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.162.1.jpg 162w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.210.1.jpg 210w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.224.1.jpg 224w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.225.1.jpg 225w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.280.1.jpg 280w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.352.1.jpg 352w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.470.1.jpg 470w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.536.1.jpg 536w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.590.1.jpg 590w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.676.1.jpg 676w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.710.1.jpg 710w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.768.1.jpg 768w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.885.1.jpg 885w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.945.1.jpg 945w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.1190.1.jpg 1190w, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/photos/000/729/72905.adapt.1900.1.jpg 1900w" sizes="785px"><img width="785" height="536"></picture></figure><h2>Get the facts on Halloween's history and why we love it so much today.</h2><div dir="ltr">2 Minute Read</div><div itemprop="creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" dir="ltr">By Brian Handwerk, <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/" dir="ltr">National Geographic</a>
</div>PUBLISHED <time itemprop="datePublished" dateposition="top" datetime="2018-10-19T00:00:00-0400" dir="ltr">October 19, 2018</time><BLOCKQUOTE>
 This article was updated October 19, 2018.
</BLOCKQUOTE><div>Today’s</div><div>Popular Stories</div><div>‘It doesn’t feel safe.’ Inside one of the world’s blueberry capitals</div>Today's mix of parties, pranks, and profit is a far cry from Halloween's ancient origins. Over the centuries the celebration has seen a lot of changes, and we've summed them up here for you.<h2>Pagan Progenitor</h2>Halloween's origins date back more than 2,000 years. On what we consider November 1, Europe's Celtic peoples celebrated their New Year's Day, called Samhain (SAH-win).On Samhain eve—what we know as Halloween—spirits were thought to walk the Earth as they traveled to the afterlife. Fairies, demons, and other creatures were also said to be abroad. (See <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/crypt-photos/?user.testname=none" dir="ltr">pictures of crypts and catacombs</a>.)<h2>Celtic Costumes</h2>In addition to sacrificing animals to the gods and gathering around bonfires, Celts often wore costumes—probably animal skins—to confuse spirits, perhaps to avoid being possessed, according to the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/folklife/" dir="ltr">American Folklife Center</a> at the U.S. Library of Congress.By wearing masks or blackening their faces, Celts are also thought to have impersonated dead ancestors.Young men may have dressed as women and vice versa, marking a temporary breakdown of normal social divisions.In an early form of trick-or-treating, Celts costumed as spirits are believed to have gone from house to house engaging in silly acts in exchange for food and drink—a practice inspired perhaps by an earlier custom of leaving food and drink outdoors as offerings to supernatural beings.<h2>Christian Influence on Halloween</h2>Samhain was later transformed as Christian leaders co-opted pagan holidays. In the seventh century Pope Boniface IV decreed November 1 All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day.The night before Samhain continued to be observed with bonfires, costumes, and parades, though under a new name: All Hallows' Eve—later "Halloween."<h2>Halloween Arrives in America</h2>European immigrants brought Halloween to the United States, and the celebration really gathered steam in the 1800s, when Irish-American immigration exploded.Anoka, <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/united-states/minnesota-guide/" dir="ltr">Minnesota</a>, may be home to the United States' oldest official Halloween celebration. Beginning in 1920, the city began staging a parade and bonfire.Anoka historians say townsfolk wanted to curb Halloween pranks that loosed cows on Main Street and upended outhouses.<h2>Do You Believe in Magic?</h2>More than a third of Americans say they believe in ghosts, according to an AP-Ipsos poll conducted before Halloween 2007. Twenty-three percent claimed to have seen a ghost or sensed one's presence.About one in five people believe that spells or witchcraft are real, according to the poll.<h2>Halloween Urban Legends</h2>Some Halloween spook stories just won't die—even if there's little substance behind the scare.For example, satanic cults—far more common in fiction than in fact—have been said to sacrifice black cats on Halloween.But experts say that there is little evidence for such fears, and that the few isolated incidents involving abused black cats were the work of disturbed—often adolescent—loners.Candy tainted by poisons, needles, or razor blades is another Halloween hobgoblin.But sociologist <a href="http://www.udel.edu/soc/faculty/best/best.htm" dir="ltr">Joel Best</a> said in 2010 that dangerous-candy rumors might be manifestations of fears and anxieties about the future. In a world where so many threats—terrorism, crashing stock markets—seem uncontrollable, it may be comforting for parents to focus on preventable calamities, such as a child biting into a spiked apple, said Best, of the University of Delaware.Best conducted a study of alleged tainted Halloween candy incidents."I have been unable to find a substantiated report of a child being killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-or-treating," he wrote.<BLOCKQUOTE>
 This article was originally published in October 2013.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

Get the facts on Halloween's history and why we love it so much today.

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Today's mix of parties, pranks, and profit is a far cry from Halloween's ancient origins. Over the centuries the celebration has seen a lot of changes, and we've summed them up here for you.

Halloween's origins date back more than 2,000 years. On what we consider November 1, Europe's Celtic peoples celebrated their New Year's Day, called Samhain (SAH-win).

On Samhain eve—what we know as Halloween—spirits were thought to walk the Earth as they traveled to the afterlife. Fairies, demons, and other creatures were also said to be abroad. (See <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/crypt-photos/?user.testname=none">pictures of crypts and catacombs </a>.)

In addition to sacrificing animals to the gods and gathering around bonfires, Celts often wore costumes—probably animal skins—to confuse spirits, perhaps to avoid being possessed, according to the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/folklife/">American Folklife Center </a>at the U.S. Library of Congress.

By wearing masks or blackening their faces, Celts are also thought to have impersonated dead ancestors.

Young men may have dressed as women and vice versa, marking a temporary breakdown of normal social divisions.

In an early form of trick-or-treating, Celts costumed as spirits are believed to have gone from house to house engaging in silly acts in exchange for food and drink—a practice inspired perhaps by an earlier custom of leaving food and drink outdoors as offerings to supernatural beings.

Samhain was later transformed as Christian leaders co-opted pagan holidays. In the seventh century Pope Boniface IV decreed November 1 All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day.

The night before Samhain continued to be observed with bonfires, costumes, and parades, though under a new name: All Hallows' Eve—later "Halloween."

European immigrants brought Halloween to the United States, and the celebration really gathered steam in the 1800s, when Irish-American immigration exploded.

Anoka, <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/united-states/minnesota-guide/">Minnesota </a>, may be home to the United States' oldest official Halloween celebration. Beginning in 1920, the city began staging a parade and bonfire.

Anoka historians say townsfolk wanted to curb Halloween pranks that loosed cows on Main Street and upended outhouses.

More than a third of Americans say they believe in ghosts, according to an AP-Ipsos poll conducted before Halloween 2007. Twenty-three percent claimed to have seen a ghost or sensed one's presence.

About one in five people believe that spells or witchcraft are real, according to the poll.

Some Halloween spook stories just won't die—even if there's little substance behind the scare.

For example, satanic cults—far more common in fiction than in fact—have been said to sacrifice black cats on Halloween.

But experts say that there is little evidence for such fears, and that the few isolated incidents involving abused black cats were the work of disturbed—often adolescent—loners.

Candy tainted by poisons, needles, or razor blades is another Halloween hobgoblin.

But sociologist <a href="http://www.udel.edu/soc/faculty/best/best.htm">Joel Best </a>said in 2010 that dangerous-candy rumors might be manifestations of fears and anxieties about the future. In a world where so many threats—terrorism, crashing stock markets—seem uncontrollable, it may be comforting for parents to focus on preventable calamities, such as a child biting into a spiked apple, said Best, of the University of Delaware.

Best conducted a study of alleged tainted Halloween candy incidents.

"I have been unable to find a substantiated report of a child being killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-or-treating," he wrote.

Halloween: costumes, history, myths, and more

The Origins of Halloween