The popular claim that Halloween is a “pagan holiday” repackaged by Christianity is a frequent talking point in modern discussions. However, this assertion is a distortion of history. Halloween, or “All Hallows’ Eve,” began not as a pagan celebration but as part of the Christian liturgical calendar. Its development was never a clean appropriation of pre-Christian religion. Instead, it was a layered process in which Christian practices shaped and were shaped by local cultural expressions of the sacred and the seasonal.
At its core, Halloween derives from a deeply Christian foundation. The term itself means “the evening of All Hallows,” that is, the night before the feast of All Saints on November 1. In the early Church, feasts were often preceded by vigils. These evening observances set the tone for reflection, prayer, and worship in anticipation of the following holy day. By the time of Pope Gregory III in the 8th century, the celebration of All Saints was moved to November 1 and formalized across the Western Church. This placed October 31 as a sacred vigil, not a day of paganism, but one of Christian preparation.
Yet the calendar did not exist in a vacuum. Christian feasts were regularly integrated with existing rhythms of life. In the rural world of early medieval Europe, the end of October marked a seasonal turning point. Harvests were brought in, and the days shortened. Communities across the Celtic world, particularly in Ireland and parts of Scotland, observed the transition with a series of folk practices, some of which likely predated Christianity, while others developed alongside it. The Celtic festival of Samhain is frequently cited in this context, but the details of what Samhain actually entailed are murky and often misunderstood.
Samhain and the Myth of a Pagan Halloween
Samhain was a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. While it carried a seasonal significance, there is limited reliable evidence that it was a grand religious festival in the pre-Christian era. Much of what is known about Samhain comes from Christian-era sources, often written centuries after the conversion of the Isles. Descriptions of spirits walking the earth, thin boundaries between worlds, and rituals to appease the dead are more likely products of medieval folklore, not preserved memories of ancient pagan worship.
The Church’s decision to place the Feast of All Saints and its vigil at this time of year was not, as some claim, a ploy to suppress or absorb Samhain. Rather, November 1 already held Christian significance in certain regions, and the spread of the feast across Europe likely coincided with rather than replaced local customs. Where overlap did exist, folk traditions often survived but were gradually recontextualized within a Christian worldview.
This process was neither deceptive nor conspiratorial. It was, in fact, quite ordinary for the early Church. Theological truth was proclaimed in new places, but people did not abandon their cultures overnight. Just as winter solstice celebrations were reoriented toward the birth of Christ and spring fertility festivals were reshaped around the resurrection, so too the customs surrounding the seasonal threshold at the end of October were eventually folded into a Christian narrative.
Christian Commemoration of the Dead and the Rise of the Season
If Halloween’s timing and name were born from Christian liturgy, its character was also shaped by Christian theology, particularly concerning death, judgment, and the hope of resurrection. The addition of All Souls’ Day on November 2 in the 10th century strengthened this emphasis. The Church established a triad of observances: All Hallows’ Eve on October 31, All Saints’ Day on November 1, and All Souls’ Day on November 2. This became known in some regions as Hallowtide, a period of spiritual reflection on the communion of saints, the reality of death, and the call to faithful living.
Within this framework, customs developed for honoring the dead. Prayers for the souls of the departed, visiting graves, and the lighting of candles became common acts of piety. In England and parts of Europe, the poor would go door to door offering prayers in exchange for food, a practice known as souling. In time, this was adapted into more playful customs, with children dressing in costume and receiving small gifts. Rather than being vestiges of paganism, these were organic developments within a Christian society.
In Ireland and Scotland, other traditions developed. Children and adults dressed in disguise, known as guising, to entertain neighbors or engage in playful mischief. People carved lanterns out of turnips or other root vegetables, often to ward off evil spirits or to represent wandering souls. These practices were shaped more by folklore and rural superstition than by any formal pre-Christian religion. While they carried symbolic weight, they were expressions of cultural memory, not pagan worship.
Halloween Crosses the Atlantic: A New Identity in America
When Irish and Scottish immigrants brought their customs to North America in the 19th century, Halloween began its most dramatic transformation. In the United States, where Protestant skepticism toward Catholic feast days remained strong, Halloween lost much of its explicitly Christian character. What remained were the folk elements: the costumes, the lanterns, the mischief.
By the early 20th century, Halloween in America had become a community-centered event, particularly for children. Costumes became commercialized, and candy companies began producing products specifically for October 31. Trick-or-treating gained popularity during the mid-century as a way to curb vandalism while still allowing for festivity. The religious roots of All Hallows’ Eve were largely forgotten, replaced by pumpkins, ghosts, and witches, symbols more associated with harvest and popular lore than with theology.
Even as the holiday adapted to a new culture, some of the older rhythms and instincts remained for a time. Neighborhoods organized community events, and families passed down traditions. But over the years, these too were repackaged, streamlined, and monetized.
What Halloween Has Become
Today, Halloween bears little resemblance to its origins. What began as a Christian vigil shaped by remembrance and reflection on death has become a celebration dominated by consumerism, entertainment, and spectacle. While echoes of older themes remain, such as costumes of the dead, imagery of spirits, and a fascination with the eerie, they have been stripped of their theological or communal significance. The boundary between life and death is no longer something to approach with reverence or prayer but something to mock or monetize. Halloween did not preserve its sacred roots; it was hollowed out and repackaged for fun.
Conclusion
Halloween’s history tells the story of how a sacred vigil rooted in Christian remembrance of the dead was gradually transformed into a night of indulgence and spectacle. What was once a call to contemplate eternity has become an excuse to celebrate the strange and the superficial. Yet even in its secular form, the holiday reveals something about the human heart. People still gather in the dark, still play with the idea of death, and still long for light in the midst of fear. The difference is that the hope once found in Christ has been replaced by the thrill of fright. Understanding where Halloween came from reminds us not that it was stolen from paganism, but that something sacred was traded for something shallow.
Discussion Questions
- How does knowing Halloween’s Christian origins challenge the common claim that it began as a pagan holiday?
- In what ways did folk customs influence the development of Halloween without replacing its liturgical foundation?
- Why might the Church have chosen to place All Saints’ Day on November 1, and what significance did that timing have?
- How did immigration to America transform Halloween into the version we recognize today?
- What role does memory of the dead play in both the historical and modern observances of Halloween?
Want to Know More?
- Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton
A thorough and well-researched account tracing the evolution of Halloween from its Christian liturgical roots through its transformation into a secular celebration, with careful attention to both historical sources and modern misconceptions. - The Book of Hallowe’en by Ruth Edna Kelley
First published in 1919, this foundational work explores the historical development of Halloween in Europe and America, drawing on folklore, Church history, and cultural practices still referenced by scholars today. - Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween by David J. Skal
Offers a critical look at how Halloween evolved in American culture, focusing on how media, marketing, and fear shaped its modern expression while tracing its deep roots in earlier traditions. - Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night by Nicholas Rogers
A concise and academically grounded book that critically examines the assumption of Halloween’s “pagan” origins and outlines how the holiday was reshaped through Christian influence and cultural adaptation. - Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain by Ronald Hutton
A broad yet detailed analysis of the British ritual calendar, including a scholarly breakdown of Samhain and All Hallows, demonstrating how the Church reoriented folk practices over time without erasing them.
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