Halloween: The spookiest time of the year. Millions of people across America are ready to dress up and get scary, but why? Why do people dress up as little monsters in order to get free candy? It all started 2,000 years ago, with these people called Celts. The Celts lived mostly in the Ireland region and celebrated Samhain. They believed that on the night of Halloween, there was a very fine line between the world of the living and the world of the dead. So they built a giant bonfire, gathered around it dressed in costumes usually made from animal skins, and essentially celebrated the lives of people who have died. This is also an invitation for the dead to “rejoin the living.” Some refer to this, accurately named, as the Day of the Dead. Still wondering why they dressed up? This is for them to basically “hide” themselves from the unfriendly spirits that may be wondering about. If I were a ghost, I wouldn’t want to mess with a giant pig walking around on two legs so in a way, it makes sense. Soon when Romans conquered the Celts, they were made to change their ways. They then had what was called All Saints Day.

This new holiday was about celebrating Christian figures. Then it changed even more, people started celebrating a new version of All Hallows Eve, this time with no religious or spiritual bias. This became more popular and widely celebrated than All Saints Day ever was. And then it got changed up even more. When colonists started coming to America, they didn’t want to have anything to do with the Catholic church or Britain. After America was free, it started getting immigrants, there also happened to be a few Irishmen in there, so together they formed what we know today as Halloween. Kids started dressing up and would be given money or fruit, and everyone was still pulling harmless pranks every now and then.