Why do Celts celebrate Halloween?

Answer 1

Halloween was created by American businesses to fall on the date of the Celtic New Year as there were a lot of Celts in the US. The Celts traditionally did not dress up in costumes etc as this is the American adaptation to create marketing and profit. Halloween is a mix of the Celts celebrating their New Year and the Mexican Festival of the Dead, hence the ghoulish costumes.

The Celtic new year was the last time to feast and make peace with the neighbouring clans, villages and deceased ancestors before the onslaught of winter. As you can imagine you would want all the help you could to get through the below freezing winters in Scotland etc.

Answer 2

I think you are asking the wrong question. The question should be: why do we celebrate a Druidic custom.

The druids celebrated a day called Saimhain though the day was moved to suit Christian purposes, the day was supposed to be a day when the land of the livings barriers between the world of the living and the world of the dead. It was in these days that the dead walked among the living.

We celebrate it today because as Christianity spread it could only continue to do so by incorporating the local religions into it. This resulted in the practice of Easter where before it was a pagan celebration designed to improve fertility and celebrate the rebirth of people and nature. It became a practice celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. The same thing happened with the practice of Saimhain, it was renamed All Hallows or Halloween and given a different meaning.

By incorporating these local religions ideas into Christianity the Christian church was able to take over these religions a smoother more efficient way. People could accept joining a new religion if it had an element of similarity to it.

Answer 3

The druids DIDN'T celebrate Halloween. It was created by Gaelic pagans around 200CE - a full 800 years after the ancient druids were disbanded.

Answer 4

it started by the celtics , to celebrate the cold and darkness of the new year!!!!!

Answer 5

At Halloween, the ancient Celts used to dress up in costumes, thinking that it would scare away evil spirits.

Answer 6

because they wanted candy

Answer 7

to celebrate the life of the dead.