Later today, kids across the country will be going door to door shouting ‘Trick or Treat!” While that experience has changed since we were young, it is still a thing. Some parents worried about their kids will take them to “Trunk or Treat” events or go store to store downtown rather than door to door. With over $13 billion in spending, yes it is still a thing!
Origins
The origins of Halloween go back to ancient times. Its origin may be related to Celtic rituals or some other pagan rites. Some of the rites and rituals were marking the end of the harvest or the change of season to winter. Looking toward the darker part of the year and a time of year where the earth seems to die. Others believed that during this time, the boundary between this world and the next became less substantial and that spirits from the other world might enter into ours. It is hard to know for sure what people with no written language that lived by oral tradition believed.
Christianity
With the coming of Christianity the church took more control of local cultures. In an attempt to increase that control, the church often replaced pagan “holidays” if Christian ones that occurred on the same date. The pagan tradition we now call Halloween became “All Saints Eve” or “All Hallows Eve.” The traditions that have largely been lost are All Saints Day and All Souls Day following All Hallows Eve – Halloween. Remnants of those lost holidays still remain to Mexico and some other countries as Dia de Muertos or Dia de los Muertos. In Mexico the holiday is probably based at least partially on Aztec or other indigenous people’s traditions. These traditions again were probably coopted by the church in an effort of exert Christianity on the local people. In more recently, the connection between the church and Dia de Muertos has lessened for a variety of reason. Some of those reasons were political, and others are a changes in society.
What is it today
Dia de Muertos is usually celebrated for 1 or 2 days after October 31st to respect and honor those that have passed. Parts to the celebration can be serious, such as setting up a “ofrenda,” an altar or shire to those that have passed. But most of the celebrations are fun and include the wearing of costumes and brightly colored clothes, face painting, treats, parades, and sometimes the giving of gifts.
However you celebrate, enjoy the holiday!