# Origins of Hallowe'en

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-halloween/267207>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 2, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-halloween/267207 "2004-10-02T16:04:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-halloween/267207/1 "2004-10-02T16:04:30Z")

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I was wondering, when did All Hallow’s Eve become Hallowe’en? When did we introduce the tradition of kids dressing up and going door to door for candy, jack-o-lanterns, etc.?

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**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-halloween/267207/2 "2004-10-02T16:28:34Z")

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The History Channel’s web site has an excellent [History of Halloween](http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/main.html) exhibit (their term).

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-halloween/267207/3 "2004-10-02T16:29:48Z")

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For some reason, this question (or similar ones) are very popular at this time of year.

I present the following examples, not to make you wade through lots of text, but because most of them shed slightly different light on the topic.

[what is the real history of Halloween ?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=86383) 09-10-2001

[Evidence for the Gregory IV / Samhain connection?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=93656) 10-17-2001

[Halloween – how international is it?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=96366) 10-31-2001

[Christian Fundamentalists vs. Halloween](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=141547) 10-28-2002

[Halloween & Christianity](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=142036) 10-31-2002  
The short (perhaps too short) answer is that Trick-or-Treating came into the U.S. with the Irish immigrants, but that it has nothing to do with ancient Celtic religions or Samhain (a connection that was erroneously created by a couple of late 19th Century British authors).

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**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-halloween/267207/4 "2004-10-02T16:34:26Z")

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Cool–thanks for the links, guys!

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-halloween/267207/5 "2004-10-02T16:35:14Z")

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(Unfortunately, the History Channel repeats the pretty well discredited “Druid” connection. If you skip the “ancient” part of their narrative and start with the section referring to All Saints Day, you’ll have a better idea of the holiday’s history.)

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**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-halloween/267207/6 "2004-10-02T16:40:36Z")

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Will do 😉