Halloween, observed on 31 October, brings together seasonal folklore, the Christian calendar, and customs of disguise, visiting, and entertainment. Its name comes from the evening before All Saints' Day, also called All Hallows. The history of the holiday includes Samhain, but the two terms do not describe every modern celebration in the same way.[1]

From turnips to pumpkins#

A surviving object gives the lantern tradition a precise local history. In 1943, a schoolteacher near Fintown in County Donegal sent a carved turnip lantern to the National Museum of Ireland. She reported that this kind of lantern had been made locally around 1900. The museum artist Eileen Barnes produced a painted plaster cast to preserve its appearance.[2]

The museum connects these lanterns with stories of Jack, a wandering figure excluded from both Heaven and Hell, and describes the pumpkin lantern as an American development of the Irish custom.[2] A carved face lit from within could frighten a passerby without requiring a formal religious ceremony. The familiar jack-o'-lantern therefore has a material history as well as a supernatural story.

Visiting, disguise, and treats#

Costumes and doorstep visits have more than one proposed ancestry. The Library of Congress's survey discusses several explanations for modern trick-or-treating, including the German-American Christmas custom of belsnickeling. In that practice, disguised visitors invited neighbors to guess who they were.[3]

The survey also follows pranks, food, and commercial treats through historical newspapers. These records show changes in the public holiday rather than a single ritual copied unchanged from an ancient festival.[3] Local customs could be borrowed, altered, or combined as Halloween became a neighborhood occasion.

A holiday with several histories#

The Library's folklife resources place Halloween in the history of contact between Celtic and Christian traditions. Its research guide brings together scholarship, storytelling, recorded performances, and other cultural material.[1] Those sources are useful because an account of a religious calendar and an account of a popular celebration may emphasize different parts of the same date.

Ghosts, witches, and devils now appear in decorations and fiction as well as religious discussions. Their presence alone does not identify a participant's beliefs. A child wearing horns, a church observing All Saints' Eve, and a Pagan marking Samhain are participating in different settings even when their calendars meet.

For the place of 31 October in particular Satanist organizations, see Satanic holidays. That subject is distinct from the history of the public holiday.

Explore further#

References

  1. Library of Congress, Halloween and Día de Muertos Resources · Institutional folklife research guide, including Jack Santino's work and historic recorded performances. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
  2. National Museum of Ireland, Ghost Turnip, F1943.350 · Collection record for the 1943 Donegal lantern and Eileen Barnes's painted plaster cast. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
  3. Library of Congress, The Origins of Halloween Traditions (2021) · Curatorial survey using historical newspapers; presents several proposed sources of modern visiting customs. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
halloweenholidaysfolklorepopular culturereligious history

This encyclopedia covers traditions beyond the High Satanic Church. Church doctrine is identified as such when it appears.