Halloween History

The Tradition of Wearing Costumes

Samhain Costumes:

Costumes h...

The Modernization of Halloween

The All Souls' Day begging and cake giving, along with the tradition of leaving food on one's doorstep to appease spirits, evolved into trick-or-treating.Halloween became modernized throughout the 19th century, as colonial Americans made it a holiday about getting together to enjoy parties, food and fun costumes. By the dawn of the 20th century, Halloween was hardly about religion anymore and was widely celebrated as a purely recreational holiday.

Halloween Honeys

During the 18th and 19th century, Halloween was also believed to be the

night when a young woman could found out who she was going to marry. Consequently, many young women spent Halloween performing elaborate

rituals involving yarn and mirrors in order to get a glimpse of their

future husbands.

Nothing to Sneeze At

An interesting historical tidbit is that the phrase "God Bless You" is

actually associated with Halloween. The Welsh believed that every time

you sneezed, you blew part of your soul out of your body. Hence, they

would say "God Bless You" to anyone who sneezed to bless their soul.

Because of this, sneezing on Halloween was to be avoided entirely. It

was believed to be extremely dangerous because wandering spirits or the

devil could capture your soul as you sneezed!