Samhain: The Origins of Halloween

A special Halloween edition of our best-selling Autumn Aldo Pouch

It's that time of year again! The pumpkins are drained of their spices for lattes and pies, the bats and spiders suddenly want to be in daylight and take up precious house space without paying rent, and a myriad of costumes and candies make themselves VERY known as soon as you walk through the department store. But, it wasn't always this way. Long ago in the Celtic lands of old, Halloween, or Samhain, was a revered time of the year, filled with the sounds of harvest, joyous praise around bonfires, and humbled whispers to the souls of the dead hovering so close to The Veil...

Pronounced as "SAH-win" or "SOW-win" in most Gaelic tongues, Samhain is a festival that occurs from sunset on October 31st and continues all day on November 1st, while also marking the halfway point between the autumn equinox and winter solstice. It is part of the four-festival Pagan calendar (aside from equinox/solstice) to accompany Imbolc (February), Beltane (May), and Lughnasadh (August). Samhain is widely believed to have Celtic Pagan origins, with beliefs and traditions centering around the idea that The Veil, that which divides the physical world from the spirit world, is at its thinnest, allowing the living to "greet" the dead of loved ones, ancestors, and friendly fae. Celebrations would involve the gathering of bountiful harvests and livestock, preparations for the longer and colder nights ahead, as well as special bonfires that would be lit to cleanse and protect the living from any dark or evil spirts that came through The Veil unbidden. Masks or costumes would be worn to "hide" the living from such dreadful beings. As with most Pagan traditions, this was soon associated with Christian practices, becoming known as All Saints Day, with All Souls Day directly following on November 2nd. In addition, October 31st later became known as All Hallow's Day, with All Hallow's Eve being October 30th.

How we know Halloween today started around the 19th century, when mass Irish and Scottish immigrants came to America and shared their traditions wherever they settled down. The earliest known occurrence of costuming and trick-or-treating is in 1898 in British Columbia, Canada, with the phrase itself first recorded in 1917 in Ontario, Canada. From the 1930s onwards, the tradition of trick-or-treating in various and spooky guises spread like wildfire across the United States, and to say that "sounds pretty sweet" is probably an understatement. Fun fact: In 2025, it is estimated that consumers will spend almost $4,000,000,000 ($4bil) on even more billions of pounds of candy, all for one night!

So there you have it, a brief overview of why we get all dressed up, go out and speak to strangers we would otherwise never see, get free candy, and then get a stomachache over eating or drinking too much for our sweet tooth. But beware, while you're "ghouling" it up, make sure you don't have the wrong spirit follow you back home... Or, it could have been just the wind that brushed your hair when you walked past that cemetery...

Happy Halloween, and Blessed Samhain to all who celebrate!

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