Introduction to Halloween
As Danish-American kids who spent a lot of our young childhood in Denmark and Greece but our teenage and adult years in the US, Halloween is a holiday we have always celebrated. The traditions associated with it are so much fun, and it falls at one of the best times of the year (haha – did you catch the pun?). However, many people do not know the history of the holiday and why in the world it spread to North America of all places. So, in today’s post, I wanted to explore that, while also trying to find potential links back to Scandinavia. Because, thanks to the Vikings, most things do actually link back to Scandinavia 🙂
The Viking and Gaelic History of Halloween
Halloween is certainly not a traditional Scandinavian holiday, although of course its popularity has become more and more widespread in Scandinavia in recent years. However, if we look back at its history and where it started, we can actually find that the Vikings played a role in creating Halloween as we know it today. When the Vikings invaded Britain in the 9th century, they brought a particular pagan tradition with them. This was called the “autumn sacrifice” and celebrated the start of the darker half of the year. Of course, the pagan Vikings also celebrated the arrival of new gods and departure of others, including through animal sacrifice.
The Celts had a similar holiday in their culture, called Samhain, which took place at the same time and also marked the end of light and beginning of the darker half of the year. The theory is that Samhain combined with the Viking autumn sacrifice have influenced Halloween as we celebrate it today. 16th century (if not earlier) traditions that are recognizable to us still include apple bobbing and “guising,” or dressing up in costumes and going door to door reciting verses in exchange for food. In the 19th century, Irish and Scottish people immigrated in large numbers to North America and popularized the Halloween customs we see today. So, perhaps there is a Viking influence in there somewhere!
The Christian History of Halloween
Alternatively, some people believe that Halloween stems exclusively from Christianity. Halloween is on October 31st, which is the day before All Hallows’ Day or All Saints’ Day on November 1st. In the Christian religion, a holiday is often celebrated the night before with a feast. So, October 31st is known as All Hallows’ Eve, which when abbreviated, is where the name Hallowe’en (Halloween) comes from. During the celebration of All Hallows’ Eve, it was customary to go door to door collecting “soul cakes” – believed by some to be the origin of trick-or-treating! Ultimately, it is hard to say exactly how Halloween developed into the modern holiday that it is. Most likely, it was a combination of influences from many religions, cultures, and peoples.
Our Favorite Halloween Traditions
Trick-or-Treating
Now, in the modern era, there are countless fun Halloween traditions to take part in. Our favorite as children was, of course, trick-or-treating! The first and very essential part of trick-or-treating was coming up with a good costume. We didn’t always succeed at this and made some very strange choices over the years, but it was always fun to come up with ideas. Then, you got to go out and knock on doors and get free candy! We would come back and empty out all our candy on the floor and see what goodies we had picked up. In a family of four children (who honestly tended to prefer Danish licorice over American candy 😬 ), it always took us months to finish it off. Needless to say, Halloween was a night we looked forward to every year.
Haunted Houses/Hayrides
Another tradition that we grew more fond of in our teenage years was going to haunted houses and haunted hayrides in the weeks leading up to Halloween. Some of these places in America are huge operations and the actors look as realistic as possible. This makes it even more fun, as you actually feel like a zombie is chasing you with a chainsaw. Of course, haunted houses are not for the faint of heart, so it may not be an enjoyable experience for everyone. But if you enjoy horror movies, then they are definitely for you! It was always fun going with friends or teammates but I must admit, at least one person in every group I went with always ended up in tears.
Halloween Parties!
A tradition we love in our adult years is a good Halloween party! These were always so much fun in college and I remember that people came up with such creative costumes. Halloween parties are also just enjoyable to plan because you can come up with creepy drink ideas or ways to decorate your food to make it look spooky. Something that comes to mind is eyeball cake pops! So if that’s something that sounds up your street, have a go at hosting your own Halloween party sometime.
Skandibaking Halloween Recipes
Sadly, we do not have any recipes that are spooky or creepy enough for a very on-theme Halloween party. But, you can get creative with some of our recipes to turn them into whatever you like! Our pumpkin cake recipe, for example, could be used as a basic cake pop recipe. Or you could add some strawberry or raspberry syrup onto our æbletærte to make it look like a bleeding rose. We also have recipes for regular mulled wine and white mulled wine, which would be delicious options for a Halloween-y drink. Check out the rest of our autumn recipes here to feel more inspired!
Regardless of whether you are celebrating Halloween or not, we hope you enjoyed today’s blog post and learned something new. Leave a comment down below if you have a question or just want to continue the conversation about Halloween 🎃
