Snap-Apple Night, by Daniel Maclise, depicts a Halloween party in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832, with children bobbing for apples and adults playing a game with a hanging apple.
There Peggy was dancing with Dan.
While Maureen the lead was melting,
To prove how their fortunes ran
With the Cards could Nancy dealt in;
There was Kate, and her sweet-heart Will,
In nuts their true-love burning,
And poor Norah, though smiling still
She’d missed the snap-apple turning.
On the Festival of Hallow Eve.
One of the oldest holidays still celebrated, this seemingly bizarre tradition originated hundreds of years ago with the Celtic people of pre-medieval Europe. The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies of the Iron Age and Roman-era Europe, which are thought to have originated in Austria about 800 BC. All spoke some version of Celtic. By 450 BC, the culture had expanded across Europe.
The Celts of Ireland, Britain, and France divided the year into halves: the “light half,” roughly spring and summer when days are longer, and the “dark half,” autumn and winter when days are shorter and nights are longer.
Costume Ball, Washington, D.C., Harris And Ewing, 1939.
The Celts celebrated the end of the light half with the festival of “Samhain,” which roughly translated to “summer’s end” in the old Irish language. It was regarded as the “Celtic New Year,” which not only celebrated the end of harvest and the beginning of a new year but also honored the dead. During this time, the ancient Celts believed the border between this world and the Otherworld grew thin, allowing both harmless and evil spirits to pass through and roam the streets and villages.
The event was celebrated with bonfires, feasts, and many superstitions. After the Roman conquest of Britain, British Celts adopted the Julian calendar and set the date of Samhain observance to November 1. The evening before was called All Hallows Eve, from which the name “Halloween” comes. To honor their ancestors and ensure next year’s crops would be plentiful, they left treats and gifts out for their spirits the night before. To ward off harmful spirits, the Celts wore costumes, masks, and veils, or blackened their faces, and also left gifts in hopes of pacifying them. These customs evolved into trick-or-treating. The event also included taking stock of food supplies and slaughtering livestock for Winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in this tradition, as people and their livestock often walked between two fires as a cleansing ritual.
While the holiday began strictly as a Celtic festival, people incorporated aspects of Roman religion into its observance over the four centuries of Roman rule in Britain (43-410 AD). One of these traditions is bobbing for apples and making candied apples in honor of the Roman goddess of fruit trees and gardens—Pomona. As Christianity spread throughout the world, people either Christianized pagan holidays or forgot them. Halloween continued as the evening before All Saints Day, which was created by Christians to convert pagans and is celebrated on November 1. The Catholic church honored saints on this designated day.
Halloween Party in Missouri, by Arthur Rothstein,1939
In the early days of the United States, many settlers came from England, Ireland, and Scotland, bringing their traditions and beliefs. Other immigrant groups added their own cultural influences, including witchcraft, voodoo beliefs, black cats, and more. People celebrated the event differently in various areas, with barn dances, parades, firecrackers, and other superstitions.
By the late 1800s, Halloween costumes were popularized by adults, but by the turn of the century, they were mostly worn by children. As the holiday evolved as a children’s holiday, towns and cities began hosting large community celebrations, and by the 1940s, trick-or-treating had become widespread.
Though some believe the holiday is evil, honoring pagan rituals or the occult, the vast majority celebrate it as a day of fun. In fact, in the United States, it remains a popular holiday.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
Also See:
Ghostly Legends & Mysteries – America Unexplained
See Sources.