There’s a great debate that happens each October: what’s the best Halloween candy? Plenty of people jump in right off the bat with Reese’s, or Snickers, or KitKats — maybe Sour Patch Kids or Gummy Bears if you want something fruity. Me, I’ll always remember the popcorn balls that my next-door neighbor handed out each year.
But how did we get here, anyway? Where did this idea of walking door to door for candy hand-outs actually come from? Well, Halloween actually originates from Samhain, an ancient Celtic harvest festival that was celebrated between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The Celts believed that the boundary between our world and the spirit world was thinnest on those days, and that residents of the netherworld could cross into this one to wreak some havoc.
To bring order to the chaos, participants left offerings outside the village for any fairies, spirits or monsters that …