The All Saints' Day celebration was also called the All-hallows or All-hallowmas and, the night before it, the traditional Samhain in the Celtic religion, became All hallows Eve, and eventually, Halloween. Over the centuries, the three holidays -- All Saints Day, All Souls' Day and Samhain -- essentially merged into just one day, Halloween.
In England and Ireland during the Middle Ages during All Saints; Day and All Souls' Day celebrations, poor people would visit the homes of wealthier families and receive pastries called soul cakes in exchange for a promise to pray for the homeowners dead relatives.
This was known as "souling" and became a practice later taken up by children, who would go door-to-door asking for gifts such as food, money and ale-- an early form of trick-or-treating.
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The practice of carving faces into vegetables became associated with Halloween in Ireland and Scotland around the 1800s. Jack-o-lanterns originated from an Irish myth about a man named "Stingy Jack" who tricked the devil and was forced to roam the earth with only a burning coal in a turnip to light his way.
People began making their own versions by carving scary faces into vegetables and especially pumpkins and placing them near doors and windows to scare "Stingy Jack" away.
Like, Boo!!! --DaCootScary
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