The Hidden History of Halloween
What Every Family Should Know
Every October, porch lights come on, children put on costumes, and Americans spend billions on candy and decorations. For most families, Halloween is just a night of fun. But few stop to ask what this night actually is, where it came from, or who still treats it as sacred.
The answer goes back more than two thousand years. It runs through Celtic fire festivals, medieval church calendars, Irish immigrant ships, and modern marketing. Once you see the whole story, you'll understand why it matters what we teach our children about this night, and about light and darkness.
Samhain: The Night of Summer's End
About two thousand years ago, the Celtic peoples of Ireland, Scotland, and Britain divided their year into a light half and a dark half. The doorway between them was Samhain (pronounced "SOW-in"), meaning roughly "summer's end." It ran from sundown on October 31 to November 1. The harvest was in, and the long dark of winter was beginning.
The Celts believed that on this night, the boundary between the living and the dead grew thin. Spirits of the dead, along with fairies and other otherworldly beings, were thought to walk the earth.
The people responded in four ways:
• Bonfires. Druid priests lit great communal fires, and families carried the flames home to relight their hearths.
• Offerings. Food and drink were left outside so wandering spirits would pass by peacefully.
• Disguises. People wore masks and costumes so harmful spirits wouldn't recognize them.
• Divination. Samhain was thought to be the best night of the year to foretell the future.
Keep those four in mind. Every one of them survives in the Halloween customs we see today.
How the Church Absorbed It
When Christianity spread into Celtic lands, the people didn't drop their old festivals. Over several centuries, the Roman church chose to absorb pagan customs and give them Christian names rather than uproot them.
• AD 609: Pope Boniface IV dedicated Rome's Pantheon, a temple to all the Roman gods, to Mary and the martyrs. The feast was kept on May 13.
• 8th century: Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St. Peter's to all the saints, and the feast began to be tied to November 1.
• AD 835: Pope Gregory IV extended All Saints' Day (All Hallows' Day) to the whole church on November 1, directly on top of Samhain.
• Around AD 1000: The monastery of Cluny began keeping November 2 as All Souls' Day, a day to pray for the dead.
The church now had a three-day season of the dead, from October 31 to November 2. The night before All Hallows' became "All Hallows' Eve," later shortened to "Hallowe'en."
But the bonfires, disguises, offerings for spirits, and fortune-telling didn't go away. They simply got a date on the church calendar. That's how Halloween became part church festival and part something much older and darker.
Trick-or-treating grew out of a few medieval customs.
Souling. In medieval England, the poor went door to door on All Souls' Day and received "soul cakes," small spiced cakes often marked with a cross. In return, they promised to pray for the household's dead. The church encouraged this as a replacement for leaving food out for spirits. But the food for the dead never really went away. It just moved to a new doorstep, now tied to prayers for the dead, which Scripture never teaches.
Guising. In Scotland and Ireland, young people went house to house in disguise. They sang, recited a poem, or performed a trick in exchange for food or coins, echoing the Samhain costumes worn to hide from spirits.
Mumming. Costumed "mummers" also performed plays and songs for food and drink.
The jack-o'-lantern. Irish guisers carved turnips into grotesque faces and lit them from inside to frighten people or ward off evil spirits. Folklore tied them to "Stingy Jack," a man said to wander the earth with a coal in a turnip after tricking the devil.
Put these together and you have nearly the whole modern night: costumes, going door to door, treats in exchange for something, and a glowing carved face on the porch.
How Halloween Came to America and Became Big Business
In colonial New England, Halloween was barely observed. The Puritans rejected it along with other church festivals they considered unbiblical.
That changed in the 1840s, when the Irish Potato Famine sent more than a million Irish to America, along with many Scots. They brought their customs with them. Pumpkins were plentiful and easier to carve than turnips, and the pumpkin jack-o'-lantern was born.
By the late 1800s, Halloween was a night of parties and fortune-telling games. In the early 1900s it turned rowdy, with destructive pranks that peaked during the Great Depression.
Towns organized parades and house-to-house visits to steer young people toward something safer, and the phrase "trick or treat" appeared in print by the late 1920s.
Sugar rationing in World War II slowed things down. After the war, the baby boom reshaped Halloween into a children's holiday of costumes and candy, and candy makers, costume companies, and television advertising took it from there.
Today it's one of America's biggest retail events. The National Retail Federation expects a record $13.5 billion in Halloween spending in 2026, about $115 per person, with 74% of
Americans taking part:
Category | Expected 2026 spending |
Costumes | $4.4 billion |
Decorations | $4.3 billion |
Candy | $4.1 billion |
A night that began with offerings to the dead and fortune-telling around Druid fires is now a $13.5 billion industry, and most families taking part have no idea where it came from.
Who Still Keeps the Night Sacred
For most Americans, Halloween is just candy and costumes. For some, it's still a holy night.
Wiccans and modern pagans are the largest group. They keep Samhain as one of eight seasonal festivals, often calling it the witches' new year. Many build ancestor altars with photos and candles, hold a "dumb supper" (a silent meal with a place set for the dead), and practice divination, believing the veil is thin.
Satanists mark the night too. The Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey in 1966, lists Halloween among its three major holidays, along with Walpurgisnacht (April 30) and each member's birthday. Members hold rituals with black robes, candles, and invocations of Satan. Most don't believe in a literal devil; for them Satan symbolizes pride and self-will. The Satanic Temple, a separate group, also marks the day, often with public events.
Luciferian and theistic Satanist groups are smaller and scattered. They do treat Satan or Lucifer as a real being and may honor him as a "light-bearer" or bringer of hidden knowledge.
Most families on your street aren't doing any of this. But the night they celebrate is still, for some, devoted to the dead, to divination, and in some cases to the adversary himself.
What the Scriptures Say
So what does our Father say? All passages below are from the Hebrew Names Version.
On divination and contacting the dead
"When you are come into the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD... You shall be perfect with the LORD your God." (Deuteronomy 18:9–13)
A necromancer is one who seeks contact with the dead, the very heart of Samhain.
"The person that turns to those who are mediums, and to the wizards, to play the prostitute after them, I will even set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 20:6–7)
On borrowing the nations' worship
This is exactly what happened when All Hallows' was laid over Samhain:
"...that you not inquire after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. You shall not do so to the LORD your God." (Deuteronomy 12:30–31)
On being set apart
"You shall be holy to me: for I, the LORD, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that you should be mine." (Leviticus 20:26)
On calling things by their right names
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness." (Isaiah 5:20)
On light and darkness
"This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)
"For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them." (Ephesians 5:9–11)
The good news
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it." (John 1:4–5)
We don't need to fear this night. The One who conquered death has given us His own appointed times (Leviticus 23), full of light and joy. Our call is to walk in His light and let it shine.
Talking With Your Children: Light From Dark
"These words, which I command you this day, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up." (Deuteronomy 6:6–7)
When the decorations go up down the street this week, use them as a doorway to talk. Here are eight points to walk through together, adjusted for your children's ages.
1. Where did it come from? Explain simply that long ago, people believed the dead came back on this night and tried to contact spirits and tell the future. Ask: "Does our Father want us to talk to the dead or to Him?" Read Deuteronomy 18:10–12 together.
2. God is light. Read 1 John 1:5. Darken a room and light one candle. Ask: "What happens to the darkness when the light comes in?"
3. Don't copy the nations. Ask: "If someone threw a party for a king's enemy, would we go just because there's cake?" Talk through Deuteronomy 12:30–31.
4. Call it by its right name. Read Isaiah 5:20. Look at a few decorations together (skeletons, witches, graves) and ask: "Is this light or darkness?"
5. We have our own appointed times. Remember the fall feasts you just kept: Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. Ask: "Which was your favorite, and what did it teach you about Him?"
6. No fear. If scary images frighten them, remind them that Yeshua is stronger than any darkness (John 1:4–5).
7. Be a light, not a judge. We don't mock or condemn neighbors who celebrate. We show kindness and are ready to gently explain why our family does things differently (Ephesians 5:8–11).
8. Make a plan together. Decide as a family what you'll do on October 31: keep the porch light off, hand out treats with a Scripture card, hold a family Bible night or "light party" with candles and Scripture, or serve a neighbor in need. Let the children help choose.
Walk in the Light
A Celtic night for the dead was absorbed by the church, carried door to door in souling and guising, shipped across the ocean, and sold back to us as a $13.5 billion holiday. Through it all, its core never changed: the dead, the spirits, the fortune-telling, and the fear.
But we belong to the One who is light. He has set us apart and given us His own appointed times. So this October 31, let's not hide from the darkness, and let's not join it. Let's shine.
Father, You are light, and in You there is no darkness at all. Thank You for setting us apart to be Yours. Give us wisdom to see the darkness clearly and courage to walk in Your light. Help us teach our children Your ways when we sit in our homes and when we walk along the road. Let our homes be lamps in our neighborhoods, full of kindness and truth. Keep our hearts free from fear, because the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. In the name of Yeshua the Messiah, amen.
Want to hear more? Listen to this week's episode of the Daily Torah podcast.
Sources
• Scripture: Hebrew Names Version (public domain), via Blue Letter Bible
• The History of Halloween – History UK
• Trick or Treat: The History Behind the Halloween Custom – Farmers' Almanac
• NRF 2026 Halloween spending survey
• 5 things you didn't know about Satanists – WPTV
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