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The Fascinating Origins of Halloween's Most Iconic Symbols

From black cats to Jack-O-Lanterns and everything in between!

Elana
The Fascinating Origins of Halloween's Most Iconic Symbols

Halloween comes with a lot of tradition, tradition that dates back multiple generations. These traditions are one of the biggest reasons why Halloween is such a fun time of year for children of all ages, and let's face it: it's a lot of fun for adults, too! Every year as Halloween approaches you are sure to find frequent discussions about the history and origins of the spook-tacular holiday and while most of us tend to brush those conversations off, the truths behind some of Halloween's most iconic symbols are honestly quite fascinating! So much so that we just couldn't resist sharing the information we've found and we're pretty certain you'll be eager to spread the interesting history lesson around yourself!

I mean, do you know why Jack-O-Lanterns are practically synonymous with Halloween? Because we do...

1. Witches

Witches and Halloween go hand in hand. Dating back to the middle ages, it was highly believed by Christians that witches were right there alongside the Devil himself and somewhere along the way when Halloween became a bit of a greeting-card style holiday, witches seemed to have replaced Sahmain as Halloween became a thing. It's just that simple!1. WitchesPinterest

2. Bats

Halloween is derived from the Pagan festival of Sahmain, during which time Pagans built bonfires to ward of evil spirits. The rolling bonfires attracted insects and as insects are a delicious treat for bats, so did the bats come. This gave them a connection to the origins of Halloween and to this day it makes perfect sense since on top of the cool back story it is widely believed that Vampires, another spooky symbol of Halloween, turn into bats!2. BatsPinterest

3. Fangs

From vampires to the distinct and spooky smiles of the Jack-O-Lantern, fangs are seen all over on Halloween and are well known for suggesting you're about to get the blood sucked from your neck.3. FangsPinterest

4. Costumes

Today, your Halloween costume is a big deal but truthfully it's always been a big deal, just for very different reasons when you step back in time to visit the origins of Halloween! Sahmain was the time of year when the veil between our world and the world of the dead was believed to be at its thinnest, giving us the most likely chance to encounter the dead. In order to trick the dead, people would wear "costumes," which were typically made from animal heads and skins. Spooky!4. CostumesPinterest

5. Ghosts

Since Sahmain was the time of year when one may encounter a ghost, it is only naturally that they became an iconic and terrifying symbol of the dark time of year. Back then, ghosts were very serious and very scary business though.5. GhostsPinterest

6. Skeletons

Today's skeletons have taken on a bit of a friendly personality but since a skeleton is all that remains of the dead in most cases it only makes sense that they became synonymous with holidays celebrating or fearing the dead.6. SkeletonsPinterest

7. Black Cats

Depending on where you dig around in folklore you may find that black cats are considered lucky but dating back to the 16th century in Europe and then in America, black cats went hand in hand with witches. This was believed so intentionally that throughout Europe black cats were treated similarly to witches themselves, and burned alive. To this day black cats are a symbol of the spooky day and they can be difficult to adopt as the holiday approaches because people still have the disgusting habit of taking their fears out on the black cat.7. Black CatsPinterest

8. Husks

The popular decoration tends to simply scream Autumn is here more than anything but there is a reason they've been around Halloween so long. Dried-out husks are the remains of all the once-living bounty that has now been harvested and that's a powerful vision of death during Sahmain.8. HusksPinterest

9. Apples

Placing third place behind pumpkins and candy for being THE food of Halloween, apples have an interesting history to them. Apples were associated with Pomona, the Roman goddess of abundance and when the Romans invaded Britain they brought their beliefs and their apples along with them! Coincidentally, that's also where the bobbing for apples game comes from!9. ApplesPinterest

10. Broomsticks

Obviously the short answer to broomsticks on Halloween is that they are the transportation device of choice for witches and everyone loves a witch on Halloween, but where the heck did that come from in the first place? The truth: back in the day it was believed that witches applied a "hallucinogenic" flying ointment internally with a wooden staff... okay. Over the years they supposedly flew on just about anything they could slather the ointment on and... insert, including forks! But the wooden staff thing really stuck around and throw in some domesticated housewife humor and bam: the broomstick. That's an odd bit of history.10. BroomsticksPinterest

11. Jack-O-Lanterns

Did you know that if you went back to the beginning of Jack-O-Lanterns they were actually made with turnips and not pumpkins? It's true! It dates back to the Irish folklore tale of "Stingy Jack." As the story goes, Jack invited the Devil for a drink with him but did not want to pay. So, instead, Jack convinces the Devil to transform himself into a coin to pay for the drinks. However, instead of spending the coin Jack pockets it next to a cross and only agrees to free the Devil when he promises not to claim Jack's soul when he dies. Unfortunately for Jack when he died, God didn't let him in to Heaven and then of course the Devil didn't let him into Hell. Instead, the Devil gave Jack a piece of burning coal, which he placed into a hallowed out turnip, to light his way as he was doomed to roam the Earth indefinitely. The Irish people would place Jack-O-Lanterns outside their doors to frighten away Stingy Jack (and other wandering spirits) and when they immigrated to America they found the pumpkin to be an acceptable substitute.11. Jack-O-LanternsPinterest

12. Spiders

Spiders have vastly ancient roots in mysterious folklore across multiple cultures (both good and bad) but they take their place as a Halloween symbol because at one time they were just like black cats: believed to be companions of witches and the people of the past really did not like witches.12. SpidersPinterest
Elana