I'm sure (most of you) will recognize this song. It's finally autumn, and what does that mean? Halloween, which is my favorite time of year. From candy to costumes and ghost stories, Halloween is the day you are someone you're not and try to scare the living daylights out of people. We love the thrill of this, but what made modern Halloween, well, modern Halloween? There are three phases in the development of Halloween: Samhain (pronounced "sowing"), All Hallow's Eve, and Halloween. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To start, Halloween can be traced back about 2,000 years ago, to the Celts of Europe who occupied parts of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France. This was a pagan festival called Samhain (meaning end of summer in garlic) that celebrated honoring the dead and involved sacrifices of crops and animals. There is no original written documentation of this festival existing today from the ancient Celts, however there is reference to the festival in Roman documents from when the Romans conquered the lands of the Celts around 43 AD. The festival will be held around 1 November. Although a direct connection between Halloween and Samhain has not been established, but because Samhain and All Hallows' Eve are so close in the calendar, many scholars believe that they influenced each other and later combined to create Halloween. Second, around 600 AD, Pope Boniface IV created All Saints' Day, which honors saints and martyrs. This day was created to give Christians who did not want to celebrate a pagan holiday something that had a positive spiritual value. As Christianity expanded into Europe, All Saints' Day became the dominant holiday. The day before All Saints' Day was called All Hallow's Evening (which was later shortened to All Hallow's Eve or All Hallow's Even and changed over time to Halloween). In 1000 AD the church established November 2nd as All Soul's Day, which was a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed that the church simply wanted to replace the Celtic festival with something of the same type, simply sanctioned by the church. This day was celebrated with large bonfires, parades and dressing up as saints, angels and devils. (Sound familiar?) Halloween finally came to America. Celebration of the holiday was extremely limited in New England due to strict Protestant beliefs, but it was common in Maryland and the Southern states. As the cultures of different European and American Indian ethnic groups intertwined, a distinctly American version of Halloween emerged. Early American celebrations included "play parties," which are public events held to celebrate the harvest, in which neighbors told ghost stories, told fortunes, danced, and sang. In the second half of the 19th century, America was flooded with immigrants who helped popularize the celebration of Halloween nationwide. This is when they dress up in costumes and go from house to house asking for food or fixed money. In the late 1800s, people wanted Halloween to be about family and community rather than ghosts and witches. By the late 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-based holiday, and by the 1950s Halloween had evolved into a holiday aimed at children. Today, Americans spend about $6 billion a year, making it the second largest shopping holiday. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In conclusion, Halloween has evolved a lot over the years!