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The idea of the tradition or of the day having its origins in America is obvious, but far from it. This day was created in honour of the dead in the fifth century B.C. by the Celts and of course has no Christian background at that time. The Celts celebrated their feast Samhain on 01 November. At that time this was mainly arranged for the return of winter but with the faith that on this day the world of the dead meets the world of the living, so to speak a portal opens between the worlds. In these few hours, it was believed, it would be possible for the dead to take ownership of the souls of the living in order to begin a life after death. Fearing to lose their souls and lives, the Celts masked and painted themselves to confuse the ghosts and stop them from doing so.

The Romans used this well-known northern tradition but combined it with their own local traditions and religious beliefs. In old Rome, for example, traditions were often combined, such as the day in honour of Pomona and All Saints' Day.
All Saints' Day was Christianized by Pope Bonifatius IV around 600 AD for a simple reason. There were too many saints to be awarded individual days.
Finally, All Saints' Day came to America in 1840 with Irish immigrants and as everyone knows, almost every American holiday is celebrated with a great deal of effort and attention to detail, resulting in the Halloween we know today.

Dressing up is not the only Halloween tradition that has made it from the Celtic custom to the present.

Whoever thinks of Halloween knows that on that day or rather in the evening children and teenagers wander through the streets to ring strange doors and ask for sweets. The trick or treat, to say it in today's words, is just part of it and makes many children's hearts beat faster year after year, on this actually quite dark day.

But who knows what this custom is based on?
We! indeed on the soul cake.

Again the story begins with the Celts. Unfortunately their background is blurred over the centuries and therefore there are several transmissions. On the one hand, soul cakes are said to have been baked in order to choose a human sacrifice. Who pulled the burnt soul cake from the bag was sacrificed for a good harvest of the following year. Another story says that the soul cakes were baked to release minds from purgatory and calm wandering souls. Later in our time, soul cakes, or often simply called souls, were baked and given to petitioners that night. Mostly these were beggars and children. For every consumed cake one soul was saved.

Under Christian thought believers went to All Souls' Day around 900 AD from village to village to collect soul cakes with the promise to pray for the deceased of each giver.
 
To prepare the perfect soul cakes, we first melt the butter. Stir the sugar underneath until a smooth, creamy mass is made. Then add three egg yolks and mix again to a smooth mixture. Now add the flour and the spices. Whisk everything well together before carefully lifting in the raisins. Slowly add the milk, possibly a little more than 100 millilitres. The dough should be soft, but still easy to shape. From this, balls are rolled and pressed flat on a baking tray lined with baking paper. The soul cakes should have a diameter of about 10 centimetres and be 2-3 centimetres high. If you like, you can use a blunt knife to carve decorations into the surface of the soul cake or put raisins on it. Then it goes for the Irish soul cakes at 180 degrees Celsius in the preheated oven. They remain there for ten to fifteen minutes and are baked golden brown on the table.

Just as today's children go from house to house to ask for sweets, they are spotlighted in front of every second door by funny grinning or eerily spooky fruit vegetables: the caved and decorated pumpkin. This tradition, too, was not born out of a simple mood, but has a devilish background, which Jack O'Lantern is able to tell us:

Jack O'Lantern of his sign Irishman, very tricky as well as often drunk according to legend, got involved with the devil in his age. At that time, thanks to his alcohol consumption and clever spirit, he made the devil climb a tree and catch him by carving a cross into its stem. Since Jack was afraid of the devil, he agreed to let the devil down if he never had to fear him again. The devil agreed. When Jack died years later he was denied entry to heaven because he got involved with the devil, but even the resentful devil did not let him into hell. Instead, the devil gave him a caved-out beet filled with glowing coals in which Jack was to spend his life after death.

Because of this tale, the Irish placed caved and decorated turnips on All Saints' Day. In memory of Jack and his game with the devil. When the Irish immigrated to America, they realized that there were hardly any turnips to continue their practice. But there were plenty of pumpkins. So one thing came to another and the original turnip became the pumpkin lantern we know and love today.

Here are a few scary and beautiful faces to carve by yourself.
Happy Halloween!