There are varying opinions as to how the Halloween custom originated and specifically what Halloween is celebrated for. Some claim Halloween is a kind of demon worship, while others believe it is just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual. Who knows? The word, “Halloween”, believe it or not, has origins in the Catholic Church and is derived from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1st, "All Hollows Day", or "All Saints Day", is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. In the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31st. Halloween was called Samhain, the Celtic New year. The Halloween customs began in the U.S. around the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's famine.

Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s potato famine brought the custom of Halloween to America in the 1840’s. At that time, the favored Halloween pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates. The Halloween custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a 9th century European custom called souling. On November 2nd, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for soul cakes made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.

Trick-or-treating originated in the ninth-century European custom from a practice called souling. On All Souls Day, November 2nd, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes" made from square pieces of bread with currants. Each person wanted to get the most soul cakes since, he more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. During those times, It was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.

The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. In the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into Halloween celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern Halloween tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween. The emphasis of the practice also changed over time to become more ritualized. As the belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more Halloween ceremonial role.

The Halloween Jack-o-lantern custom comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.

According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance into Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed out turnip to keep it glowing longer. The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins for Halloween were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in the U.S. was a hollowed out pumpkin, lit with an ember for Halloween.

Although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, Halloween is only as evil as one cares to make it.