Halloween, a spooky night full of ghosts and ghouls is quickly approaching. A night filled with candy, scares, decorations, and costumes galore. Where did all this start, you may be asking. Its roots trace been many, many years. All the way back to the emerald isle. To ancient Ireland and the Celtic festival, Samhain (pronounced “SAH-win"). Samhain marked the end of Summer and the beginning of Winter, on a night they believed the worlds of both the living and dead became blurred. To be inconspicuous, the celts would wear costumes to blend in with any dead that may have been wandering the world that night. Carving pumpkins also shares its ancient roots with the frightening costumes of Halloween night. The beginnings of which seem to point toward the mythical figure of Stingy Jack. The story goes that Stingy Jack had played tricks on the Devil to prevent him from having his soul claimed at death. God however, would not allow such a trickster as Jack to enter his kingdom either. Therefore, Jack was sent into the night with only a burning coal to light his way. He carved out a turnip to put the coal into and as the legend goes, has been roaming the Earth with it ever since.
People in Ireland and Scottland began carving their own spooky images into turnips and placing them near windows and doors to ward off Stingy Jack. When people immigrated from those countries to the US, they brought their vegetable carving tools with them. They forever altered pumpkin carving from a general Autumn past time, to one that is iconically Halloween. Trick or treating came a bit later. During the Great Depression, violence and vandalism became rampant on Halloween night. To mitigate these crimes, communities started the tradition of going door to door trick or treating. When World War 2 broke out, it became difficult to acquire sugary candy because of the sugar rations. At the war’s conclusion however, trick or treating became a pastime favorite for children all across the US.