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I think it came from the Pagans and it was called All Saints Day. Id have to do more research though. Im not sure if that is right.

Ask me, and it's All Hallow Eve's. A vegetable was carved for each dead family member, and around night, their spirits came and feast with the family for a big meal. Then Christians (or whoever you want to blame) called it Satanic, and dressed in scary outfits to keep the ghosts away from them. Candy? WHO KNOWS! It ain't All Saint Day, because it was created by Celtics or Pagans. They didn't have saints, but instead druids. Should the day be true, then wouldn't it be called All Druid Day?

Sorry but hate to say it but. None of you guys got it right. The orginal name was not All Saints day or any thing else. It was called Sowen and it was started by the Celts of England. And the ways Trick or treat got started was that the poor would go around to everyone in the village homes and ask them for some home make goodies to feed them. If the family gave them something them ther poor person would say a pray for there recently decest but if the family just slamed there door in there face then it was said that the Devil would come and take them ways to suffer for all eternity. Plus the way that the Jack-o-lantern got started was there was a man named Jack who loved to play tricks on people. One day The Devil came to take him away to Hell. But Jack got an idea. So he asked the Devil that if for his last wish the Devil the go up into the tree they were standing under and to go up to the top to get the nicest apple. Well the Devil said "ok" and climbed up. But the Devil got stuck (which was Jack's plan all along) So the Devil got mad and placed a curse on him that when he did die he would walk the Earth forever with all to guide his way was a turnep with a cnadle in it. And when the Irish came over they brought that tale. But Since Pumkens were more plenteful in the USA they now us Punmkens.

So there you have it. The sorys behind the most common Halloween Traditions.
Have fun telling people them. ^_^

I dont know much but I do know where Jack-o-lanterns came from. There IRISH! The legend is that a guy named Jack was tricking everyone in his town and as he went on he tricked Death himself. So obviosly Death is mad and he killed Jack, and they say that you can see Jack walking in the woods with nothing but a little turnip lantern. When the Irish came to America they replaced turnups with pumpkins. biggrin

Ah well, if we don't know, we still know this: it will always be fun, if the neighbors aren't lazy.

I'll put it in a simple explanation:

Halloween started in the BC era in what is now Ireland. It was started by the celts and was called Samhain(Sowen/Sowan). The celts wouls sacrifice animals and sometimes humans to the gods that they worshipped. The idea of costumes came from the celts wearing animals skins and the horns and whatnot to frighten evil spirits. The would also burn big bonfires to ward off the evil spirits. The celebration of samhain is widely known as a celebration that represents the death of summer and beckons to the long dark nights of the winter ahead.

It is also important to note that samhain is one of the sabbats for witches. For those of you that don't know a sabbat is like a witches form of a church sermon...The witches gathered with satan and would dance, sing, and feast at such events.

The idea of the jack o' lantern also came from a story:

There was once a greedy man named Jack. Jack did not care about any one but himself. When he died the devil appeared to him to take him to hell but he did not want to go to hell so he tricked the devil. Even though Jack escaped satan he was not allowed into heaven because of his greedy ways...So when jack returned to the devil satan would not let him into hell because of his dirty trick he played on the devil. Poor Jack was cursed to roam the earth forever, so to light his way he took a turnip, carved a face into it and placed a burning ember into the turnip...This eventually evolved into the tradition of carving scary or happy faces into a pumpkin....

Im pretty sure Im not wrong because it came from a book on halloween that I read many years ago. So, yeah.