About 2000 years ago in
Great Britain lived the Celts. Their new year was on 1st November. They
thought
this was the end of summer, the beginning of dark, cold winter and on
the night
of 31st October, the ghosts and the dead came back to the earth. On
1st November they had a festival: food, drink and dance for three
days!!! On
2nd November, on
All Souls’ Day the Celts walked from home to home to ask for ‘Soul
cakes’. Soul
cakes were made of square-shaped bread and fruit. The more cakes they
had the
more prayers they had to say for the deads. Perhaps this festival was
the first
Halloween.
In the year 836 AD the
Roman Catholic Church made 1st November a special day: All Saints’ Day
or
All
Hallows. The night before was called All Hallows Eve which later became
Halloween.
Today some people make strange
pumpkin faces with candles inside. The are called Jack-o-lanterns. On
Halloween these pumpkins make light in the dark, scary night.