The Origins

The origins of the holiday date back to pre-Christian times.  The Celtic holiday of Samhain was considered the end of the fall season, and the beginning of winter.  It was a harvest holiday.  Sunset on Samhain was considered the Celtic New Year.   This transition between the seasons was also seen as a bridge between the world of the living, and the world of the dead.   

The Celts believed that at the time  of Samhain, more than any other times, the dead were able to mingle with the living.  It was on this day that the souls of those who had died during the course of that year traveled into the other world.  The Celts lit bonfires to both honor the dead, and to aid them on their journey as well as to keep them away from the living.

 Many modern Halloween symbols also have their origins in ancient rituals and folklore.  Here are but a few.

 Pumpkins

Halloween pumpkin carving comes from a method used by the Celts to ward off evil spirits during Samhain.  The Celts would hollow out turnips, then carve faces in them and place candles inside.  The turnips were then either placed in the windows, to keep evil spirits from entering a home, or carried around as lanterns.  This tradition eventually melded with the North American tradition of carving pumpkins.  At this point, the carving of pumpkins, which had been around in North America before Halloween was popularly introduced, became associated almost exclusively with Halloween (around the 19th century).  The following folktale called "Stingy Jack" are said to be the origins of the Jack O'Lantern.

 Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.

Soon after, Jack died.  As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven.  The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him, and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell.  He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way.  Jack put the coal into a carved out turnip and has been roaming the Earth ever since.  The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern" and simply "Jack O'Lantern"

Scarecrows

A man made of hay is used to scare off the crows from the fields, inevitably protecting the crops. This symbol is used at Halloween because scarecrows represent the harvest, and Halloween, originally a harvest festival, makes it appropriate to be part of the Halloween symbolism.

The origins of the scarecrow vary.  Most believe the scarecrow was invented to keep pesky crows from the farmer's fields.  Some scholars believe the origins date back to ancient times when men were sacrificed in order to appease the gods to assure an abundant harvest.  The sacrificed man was then hung up over the fields.

 Skeletons

This Halloween symbol goes back to the original Samhain idea that the holiday was the night when the living and dead intermingled.  The skull, in particular, is a symbol used by many different cultures to represent either our human mortality, the fear of death, or danger that can result in death.  In other religions, skulls feature on the necklace of Hindu goddess Kali, over the head of Tama, Buddhist Lord of Death, and the list goes on.  The Druids and the Celts believed that the skull was the “psychic seat” of the human soul.  Skulls and
skeletons are associated with Halloween because they represent the end of the physical part of life, something that is connected to Halloween both because of the death of the “light” seasons and because of the  connection to the spirit realm.

 So as you are decorating for this festive and ancient holiday of Halloween, remember, may of the symbols you put up have very ancient origins!