By: Axlin Lucio and Kimberly Lua

The spookiest season is back! Decorations, candy, costumes, the movies, you name it. It’s Halloween! Everyone’s favorite holiday. But does everyone know the true story and origin of this holiday?

Very few people know that Halloween is an annual holiday that originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, where the Celts wore costumes and lit up bonfires to keep the spirits away. The Celts lived in the areas where they believed the dead would return to earth, these locations included Samhain, present day Ireland, the U.K., and Northern France. Halloween was first known as “All Hallows Eve,”which is the day before “All Saints Day”, a day to honor all saints, and later on was changed to Halloween.

Some may be wondering, how did Halloween spread to America if it originated  in Europe? Well, Halloween in the America started in the Southern colonies but was rare in the North due to strong religious values.Americans decided to adopt the way the Irish and the English celebrated Halloween,  by wearing costumes and going to people’s houses, asking for food or money. Later on Halloween became a holiday about the community rather than witchcrafts and such.

Over the years Halloween has changed so much. It has become a spooky day to dress up and scare, rather than to honor the dead. This 2017, Halloween was not filled with as much terrifying costumes, as people decided to dress up as many pop culture references.. Some of the more popular costumes that were worn where IT(Pennywise the clown) and Georgie. In conclusion Halloween has more to offer then the celebration of the dead.