So, are you planning on trick or treating, or dressing in costume, this Samrhain?   

Halloween is said to have been originated by the Celts, a tribe from Central Europe over 2,000 years ago, but they called it Samrhain.  And, it was one day later, November 1.   According to Insider.com’s “16 things you never knew about Halloween, from how it got its name to why we give out candy”,  Samrhain “marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter — a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.”  

Some things you probably don’t know:  if it weren’t for the wave of Celtic immigrants fleeing the Irish Potato Famine, we might not have Halloween in America today.  Historically, jack-o’-lanterns were originally actually carved turnips, beets, and potatoes. Interestingly, owls are also creatures associated with Halloween — in medieval times, hearing a single hoot meant “death was nigh”. Oddly, Harry Houdini, the famous illusionist and escape artist, died on Halloween night … in very strange circumstances. In a random survey of 50 Morton East students, only 34 students knew that Halloween originated 2,000 years ago by the celts.  

“I don’t think Halloween was first intended as an evil holiday,” literacy teacher Tony Asay said. 

Most students still cling to the dark side of Halloween — like the Celts.

“I only know about it being the witches day,” senior Elizibeth Cuevas said. 

But, some think it came from oral traditions maybe practiced by the natives.

“I think (early Americans) came up with it to tell spooky stories and then turned it to a traditional holiday,” senior Amare Harper said.

Others focus on the spiritual aspect of the holiday when it comes to origins. 

“I think (Halloween) comes from religious backgrounds, but then I think it manifested into something much more communal,” Civics and U.S History teacher Samantha Gutheim said. 

Others

“Like way back, it used to be a festival because that was some country’s New Year’s,” friend and Texas student Apple Rainy said.