Halloween in America

The feast day of All Hallows’ Eve traveled to America with the Pilgrims but was not widely accepted in the northern colonies. The strict Protestant belief system prohibited the celebration because of its pagan origins. However, Halloween was popular in southern colonies, like Maryland where the Protestant belief system did not dominate. They celebrated the harvest, held parties, told ghost stories and tried to predict each other’s future.

The popularization of Halloween led to American adaptations of the original Irish and English traditions. Taking after Celtic beggars, children began trick-or-treating as we know it today, in the 1930’s. Children would walk through neighborhoods and be given food, money or ale.

In Ireland, people set bowls of food outside of their houses to keep the ghosts away, much like modern day families set out candy bowls to appease rowdy kids on Halloween. Today, costumes are a way for kids to dress up as their favorite character, but costumes were actually used by the Celts to avoid the detection of evil spirits, who roamed the streets on Halloween night.