Halloween History | National Geographic 

Just saved myself a 40 minute documentary

2020: We do not negotiate with terrorists! 1930s: Here's some candy, kids. Can we have our gate back?

Who else think Europe has a scary history?

2020 Anyone!?

I remember good ole youtube when it had no commercials!!

Funny how they dont mention the human sacrifices.

Actually they wore masks to disguise themselves from the ghost'. I have Learnt about samhain in great detail from school since I live in Ireland.

From communion with the dead to pumpkins and pranks. Halloween is a patchwork holiday stitch together with cultural, religious and occult traditions that spanscenturies. It all began with the Celts a people whose culture had spread across Europe more than 2,000 years ago. October 31st was the day they celebrated the end of the harvest season in a festival called Samhein. That night also marked the Celtic New Year and was considered a time between years: a magical time when the ghosts of the dead walked the earth. It was the time when the veil between death and life was supposed to be at its thinnest. On Samhein the villagers gathered and lit huge bonfires to drive the dead back to the spirit world and keep them away from the living. But as the Catholic Church's influence grew in Europe it frowned on the pagan rituals like Samhein. In the 7th century the Vatican began to merge it with a church sanctioned holiday. So November 1st was designated All Saints Day to honor martyrs and the deceased faithful. Both of these holidays had to do with the afterlife and about survival after death. It was a calculated move on the part of the church to bring more people into the fold. All Saints Day was known then as Hallowmas. Hallow means holy or saintly, so the translation is roughly "mass of the saints". The night before October 31st was All Hallows Eve which gradually morphed into Halloween. The holiday came to America with the wave of Irish immigrants during the potato famine of the 1840s. They brought several of their holiday customs with them including bobbing for apples and playing tricks on neighbors like removing gates from the front of houses. The young pranksters wore masks so they wouldn't be recognized. But over the years the tradition of harmless tricks grew into outright vandalism. Back in the 1930s it really became a dangerous holiday. I mean there was such hooliganism and vandalism. Trick-or-treating was originally a extortion deal: give us candy or will trash your house. Store keepers and neighbors began giving treats or bribes to stop the tricks, and children were encouraged to travel door-to-door for treat as an alternative to troublemaking. By the late 30s trick-or-treat became the holiday greeting.

It originated in Ireland and the Irish Gaels brought their language and culture to the west coast of Scotland in the 5th century Samhain is from Old Irish.

These days, not many people are aware of the origin of Halloween. I didn't know that Halloween had a religious origin. I think that the way people celebrate Halloween nowadays is more child friendly and that makes it a better holiday to celebrate than Halloween of the past.

As with the Celts, many Neopagans today believe that October 31st is when the veil between worlds is thin, especially between the world of the living and the world of the dead. It is our high holyday. People you died in the year before will pass on this coming Halloween. It's a day of mourning, contemplation and rememberence for us, like one giant funeral for all the recently dead. So please show respect.

Who is watching this video Today ( 31 october)

I would take "offence" if someone took my gate...

cool, the celts really knew how to party :)

Halloween 2018 anyone?

Oh, nooo, I'm so sad that I can't celebrate halooween:(

I am Irish at 53 now i remember when i was young we would change peoples gates we would change the Posh gates with the less well off gate and that was a big Difference.

I’m from Ireland! It’s really cool that Halloween originated from here🎃

So Halloween means “Holy Evening”

Who is here in 2020 the year of pandemic and today is halloween happy Halloween y'all

The Halloween started to be known in Brazil (my country)just since four or five years ago. Many people here are against the halloween, but I am not.

I have been using this video for my English class for 5 freaking years!!

whether its christmas or halloween, american will always celebrating it in the most coolest way..and then everyones follow

YOU FORGOT OUR IRISH TURNIPS, OUR TURNIP JACK-O-LANTERNS

Eleven years? 😱😱😱😱 Is really old and is my first time watching this

Thanks a lot for this video! I use it with my students when Halloween is approaching

thanks im writing a article for the school news paper

Cool video, but one minor error. At 1.59 the image of the Main Building on Ellis Island appears while the narrator describes Irish immigrants fleeing the Potato Famine of the "1840's" (actually 1845-1852). Ellis Island didn't become an immigration station until 1892. The Main Building pictured wasn't built until 1900.

I'm going HALLELUJAH and AMEN🙏

The last phrase says: "Trick or treat became the holiday greeting"

"Harmless tricks grew into outright vandalism" This also describes tiktok

Very good video to learn briefly about the history of Halloween! Thank you very much! It is very useful for me and my students!

"This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Pumpkins scream at the dead of night!" Why can't you celebrate it?

I'm celtic. Halloween is in my blood. I get more excited for it then Christmas.

i am a proud Christain but i cant help loving halloween i do it for fun not religon!

Not the full story

Gregory the third be like let’s all just start a major holiday

Goodness, when I thought of halloween i always thought of candy and costumes, but i guess I have a lot to learn!!!

That's sooo cool that halloween's origin began in Ireland!

October 2020?

Who's watching this in October 31 2020

@ninafragen you mean thanks ireland, love halloween myself.best time of the year

they still do this stuff in Ireland at Halloween

Fun fact. In the Irish language we speak today, Samhain means November and Oíche Shamhna (Night of Samhain) means Halloween 🎃

so this is really how it started

No one talks like this in the real world.

Halloween is a creepy festival..

I’ll be back in five years

Out of all the holidays, Halloween is the one I look forward to the most. Even more than Christmas.

thanks .. that's wonderful

Each of us has a role to play in protecting our planet 🌏

im so confused on the origins of halloween now. ive been told like 5 different versions

A culturally ethnocentric idea of Halloween's origins. This is one interpretation

Halloween is my birthday

He said sowin 😂😂

loved your comment.. Happy Halloween!

David Skal is an excellent author. I have several of his books on classic horror films. The Monster Show is an exceptionally good one.

I could learn about Halloween through this video. Halloween culture is not very developed in our country, but we can feel it in the streets like Itaewon. I am also a student, so I cannot enjoy Halloween now, but if I become an adult, I would like to participate in the Halloween party and enjoy this culture.

published on my bday

Pagan roots will ALWAYS stand the test time of time...and religious opression....... long live the incas celts mayans etc keep THE ROOTS ALIVE!!

yay, the history of my birthday.....

this was the only time i was interested in learning!!!

Happy Halloween guys 🧡

The other three, as far as I know are Imbolc (Feb. 1), Beltaine (May 1), and Lugnasa (Aug. 1)

Get back to the cycles of nature .. it’s a cross quarter day of the year , mid point between fall equinox and winter solstice Feed your gardens to reap a great harvest next year

Very informative video!

I know, I'm a Wiccan myself and also have a Catholic for a friend too. But I've seen some comments here that really aren't "christian" or "wiccan" behavior.

Great video i have gathered such a knowledge about halloween. It will be helpful to my presentation.❤

ghost busters!

U made a very good point and I am proud of you.

All the best holidays involve candy/presents.

Who's watching this On Halloween night 2018? 😂

My favorite holliday! Happy Halloween!

nice video thank you for adding it :)

All Hallows Eve 🔪🎃

Thanks for this video!

I didn't know a Halloween Historian was a real job, and I now know what I want to be when I grow up

It's Hallowen...

2019 anyone?

Nice to learn a liitle bit about Halloween history.

And thank you for that, we love HALLOWEEN. My favorite holiday. Thanks Europe... Tá mé go maith ó ann, go raibh maith agat dom.

I love Halloween

So its not trick or treat. It's treat or trash

After 13 years this video come in recomendation😂😂

Sounds so harmless.. But it's not.. Be careful

who else in school right now

Why did they think fires would keep spirits away? You could argue fire is actually closer to a spirit world

Am from India and now am feeling so sad bcz we won't celebrate Halloween 🥺🥺🥺

amazingly!

Who is going to give me ticket to Europe 😔

Thank you

It's actually came in our listening skill. My God😵

I don't think i will celebrite halloween again

Halloween 2018)

Interesting stuff about Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

@UAJAKE82 Right on!

Still the best holiday through the whole year. Nothing taken seriously and a bunch of horror movies to watch at home.

Spells, charms, incantations, are merely rituals and tools to use by a Witch, Pagan, or Wiccan. They are the same thing as prayers, we only adding a few different items, words, traditions. Magic itself is not Good or Evil, it is merely the force of will to change the world around you. For those Christians who read this i mean no disrespect but if you take a step back God is magic. By force of will be can add or change anything. Being his or her children we inherit some small ability as well.

I am from India