c. 2000 BCE – 500 CE
🪔 Origins of Samhain
Celtic end-of-harvest festival where spirits crossed into the living world.
Bonfires, disguises, and offerings marked the thinning veil between worlds—traditions that echo in modern Halloween.
Celtic end-of-harvest festival where spirits crossed into the living world.
Bonfires, disguises, and offerings marked the thinning veil between worlds—traditions that echo in modern Halloween.
Christianity absorbs older festivals.
Pope Boniface IV declares All Saints’ Day in May, beginning the Christian framing of older seasonal traditions.
Aligning with Samhain.
Pope Gregory IV moves All Saints’ Day to November 1, blending Christian and pagan observances. The night before becomes All Hallow’s Eve.
Prayers for the departed.
All Souls’ Day on November 2 strengthens rituals of praying for the dead, with “soul cakes” influencing trick-or-treat traditions.
The witch-hunting manual.
The infamous book spreads fear of witches across Europe, shaping centuries of persecution and superstition.
Mass hysteria in Massachusetts.
Twenty people are executed as accused witches, leaving a lasting imprint on American culture and Halloween’s witch imagery.
Irish immigrants bring Halloween to America.
Turnip lanterns become pumpkins—bigger, easier to carve, and uniquely American, cementing the Jack o’Lantern tradition.
Organized festivities curb mischief.
With vandalism on the rise, towns promote parades and parties to provide safe, structured Halloween fun.
Suburbs embrace Halloween.
Post-war baby boom and suburban living spark mass trick-or-treating. Candy companies seize the opportunity to market directly to kids.
Slasher films redefine the holiday.
John Carpenter’s Halloween popularizes horror as central to the holiday, inspiring decades of haunted houses and pop culture tie-ins.
Billions spent on costumes, candy, and scares.
Halloween is now a global phenomenon, blending ancient rituals, Christian observances, immigrant traditions, and pop culture spectacle.