Halloween — the History

Not really our cultural festival

Halloween is not a New Zealand festival. It is also not a long-standing American cultural festival. It is instead a modern commercial festival. Its history in America took root in the early 1900s, while in New Zealand businesses introduced it much more recently.

In history

Halloween has an intriguing history — one that connects with many of our own cultural ancestors. In this sense, it has relevance.

The name Halloween comes from All Hallows’ Day Eve — a Christian celebration intended to honour the saints who brought the light (hope) that replaced prior darkness. Our Celtic ancestors gradually abandoned their pagan beliefs and superstitions in favour of the charity of the Christian faith.

An existing celebration (All Hallows’ Day / All Saints’ Day, initiated AD 609) was then moved in AD 837 to coincide with the timing of the earlier Samhain festival. This allowed the continuing cultural habit of festivities at that time to be given new meaning.

This is similar to a New Zealander celebrating Christmas without believing in the Christian faith — the festival continues, even if its original meaning is not observed. The Samhain festival similarly persisted while its meaning was lost.

It was only much later that games connected with previous superstitions were revived and commercialised, giving us the modern Halloween we know today.

The videos below concisely capture this widely varied history.