While the "start" of Halloween traditions probably stretches back much further than we currently have the evidence to support, we do know that there was a Celtic festival that took place around 2,000 years ago that could explain the central cause for Halloween's beginning.

 

The festival, called Samhain [SAH-win] was a pagan religious celebration that the ancient Celts celebrated to thank the Gods for the end-of-summer harvest.

 

Celts lived majorly in modern-day Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France. The majority of the Halloween traditions we celebrate today came from one of these three regions. Another possible contributor to our Halloween traditions is Feralia-a festival at which Romans would honor their dead. It was said that the boundary line between the worlds of the living and the dead blurred in October and fully vanished on the night of October 31st.

 

People celebrating Samhain lit bonfires and danced around them to celebrate their harvests. Like the Romans, the Celts believed there was a boundary line separating the world of the living from the world of the dead. This line was said to be nearly nonexistent on the night of Halloween, allowing the dead to cross and capture the souls of the living. To prevent their souls from being stolen or destroyed, the Celts dressed as horrifying creatures, scaring off any evil spirits with their grotesque costumes.

 

This tradition was complemented by a much softer one- they lit candles to light the way to their doorsteps and left their doors wide open so that their deceased loved ones may visit them for one night of the year. Now that we know why these celebrations took place, let's uncover the meaning behind one of the most popular Halloween traditions today: carving jack-o-lanterns.

 

Jack-o'-Lanterns had their beginnings in a legend about a man called Stingy Jack. Stingy Jack was a man of very little renown. He was often drunk, temperamental, and lazy. He committed many treacheries in his lifetime, and the people of his town disliked him very much.

 

Down in Hell, Satan heard word of this man's evil doings and decided he must have his soul. Stingy Jack was cleverer that you may think, though, and he did not want to die-nor did he want to be sent to Hell. When he first saw the devil, he was on a busy street just outside of a pub. Satan told him he wished to have his soul, and Jack thought for a moment.

 

He asked the devil to allow him a drink from the pub first, and Satan agreed. The two entered the pub, and Stingy Jack ordered his drink. When asked for payment, Stingy Jack stated that he had no money, so he was told to leave. Stingy Jack pleaded with Satan to shapeshift into a coin to allow him to buy him his final drink before death.

 

Satan agreed once again, and he turned into a coin that Stingy Jack placed into his pocket. Hidden within his pocket was a cross, so Satan was rendered unable to escape. Satan begged to be freed, but Jack only let him free once Satan promised to leave him alone for the next ten years.

 

The next time Satan returned to obtain Jack's soul, Jack was stumbling, drunk, outside the very same pub. Jack knew that offering to go inside would not work on the devil, so he instead requested an apple from a nearby tree. Satan, seeing no traps, climbed the tree. While Satan climbed, Jack rushed forward with a sharp stick and carved a cross into the trunk of the tree so that the devil was trapped once more.

 

Jack insisted on leaving Satan in the tree unless he promised to never take his soul, and Satan agreed. Many years later, when Jack died, he was denied entrance into the pearly gates of Heaven for his misdeeds. He was unable to go to Hell, either, due to his contract with Satan, so he was left to wander the dark expanse of purgatory-the place between the living and the dead- for eternity. Before going, Jack visited Satan for the final time. Satan, feeling pity for Jack, offered him a turnip with a face carved into its flesh and a burning lump of coal inside to provide Jack with light on his journey. Jack gratefully accepted, and it was known from then on that a lit, evil face carved into a turnip was a bad sign. People eventually decided to carve their own turnips so evil spirits would believe it was Stingy Jack, and they would leave them alone.

 

In Ireland, they did this with potatoes. Eventually, when people came to America, they began using pumpkins instead, since they were far more plentiful. Today, carving jack-o-lanterns is not for wards of protection from evil. It's more often used as a chance to bond with our friends, family, and loved ones.