Halloween is a very favorited holiday that has been celebrated and loved for thousands of years. From dressing up to trick or treating or throwing parties, there are many things that take place during Halloween but no one really digs into what Halloween really is.

Halloween is celebrated yearly on October 31st, but those who first began celebrating Halloween lived in a small town named Samhain. The whole point of Halloween in the town of Samhain was to ward off ghosts and evil. Samhain was not meant to be a happy holiday; sadly the people of the town were afraid most Halloweens but did certain tasks in order to ward off evil.

During Halloween we trick or treat by going door to door to ask for candy but that was not always the case. During the eighth century, trick or treating meant that people would leave out food to “appease the spirts traveling the earth at night” as stated on blogs.loc.gov. After a couple years people began going door to door to do trades of small sweets which later began to be known as trick or treating.

Halloween also tends to create many different myths that people have believed for decades. During the middle ages, many people believed that witches would try and disguise themselves by turning into black cats. People would avoid cats not only on Halloween, but every day. Other myths that would return close to Halloween were that you would have bad luck if you broke mirrors or spilled salt.

Although Halloween was a scary holiday for the people of Samhain, after some time they learned to enjoy it by adding tasks like creating jack-o-lanterns or trading candy and other treats. They also realized that the costumes did not have to be scary in order to ward off evil and ghosts. Over the years, people created their own traditions on Halloween but the important ones are still being celebrated  by hundreds till this day.