The Halloween History Quiz Before Saturday Night

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, as the site's pumpkin head trend piece noted, which means the costumes, the candy, and the arguments about the holiday's history all get a full weekend. This Halloween history quiz tests what you actually know about where the holiday came from, beyond the pumpkins on the porch. Six questions, no tricks, and the answers at the bottom explain the story behind each one. Every question in this Halloween history quiz comes from a custom people still practice, even if they no longer know why. Keep score as you go, then check how you did.

The Halloween history quiz questions

Question one. Which ancient Celtic festival is Halloween believed to come from? A) Beltane, B) Samhain, C) Imbolc, D) Lughnasadh.

Question two. Before pumpkins, what did Irish celebrants carve into lanterns? A) Turnips, B) Potatoes, C) Beets, D) Apples.

Question three. Where does the name Halloween come from? A) A harvest god, B) All Hallows' Eve, the night before All Saints' Day, C) A village in Scotland, D) An old word for pumpkin.

Question four. In the folk tale behind the jack-o-lantern, who was Stingy Jack? A) A blacksmith who forged the first lantern, B) A farmer who grew the largest pumpkin, C) A man who tricked the devil and was doomed to wander the earth with only a carved lantern to light his way, D) A ghost who guarded graveyards.

Question five. In the medieval custom of souling, what did poor visitors receive in exchange for prayers for the dead? A) Soul cakes, B) Candles, C) Silver coins, D) Bottles of ale.

Question six. When did large-scale Halloween decorations, the kind that cover whole yards, become common in America? A) The eighteen twenties, B) The eighteen eighties, C) The nineteen twenties and thirties, D) The nineteen sixties.

Answers to the Halloween history quiz

Answer one of the Halloween history quiz is B, Samhain. The festival marked the end of the harvest and the start of the cold, dark half of the year, and folk custom held that the doors between the world of the dead and the world of the living opened on that night. People lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward off spirits believed to cross over, according to SignUpGenius and the Always A Treat history lesson. The Celts placed food and drink out for the spirits, and disguised visitors went from house to house in a custom that looks a lot like trick-or-treating.

Answer two is A, turnips. Carved turnips with faces were the original jack-o-lanterns, meant to ward off evil spirits during Samhain, and in the Middle Ages they were often filled with burning coals and hung from sticks. When Irish and Scottish immigrants brought the custom to America, they found pumpkins far more common than turnips, so pumpkins became the preferred carving choice, as Mental Floss explains in its history of Halloween decorations. According to a University of Kentucky folklorist, jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland in the nineteenth century, when celebrants carved turnips instead of pumpkins.

Answer three of the Halloween history quiz is B, All Hallows' Eve. As Christianity took root in northern Europe, the older folk customs were folded into a Christian framework, and the celebrations in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales became All Saints' Day, a day to commemorate dead saints and martyrs. All Saints' Day was sometimes known as All Hallows' Day, and the night before was called All Hallows' Eve, which shortened to Hallowe'en and then Halloween. The church placed All Saints' Day on November first partly to absorb the older Samhain traditions.

Answer four is C, the man who tricked the devil. The Irish tale says Stingy Jack tricked the devil and was doomed to wander the earth with only a carved turnip lantern to light his way. Irish immigrants carried the story to America, where the turnip became a pumpkin because pumpkins were easier to carve and grew in abundance. The tale is why the carved pumpkin on your porch is called a jack-o-lantern at all, rather than just a decoration.

Answer five of the Halloween history quiz is A, soul cakes. In medieval souling, poor people went door to door offering prayers for the dead in exchange for food, and families gave them small pastries known as soul cakes in return for prayers for their dead relatives. A related custom, guising, involved dressing in costumes and performing in exchange for treats. Those customs merged over centuries into the modern practice of children visiting neighbors for candy, and the phrase trick or treat itself did not become common in the United States until the nineteen thirties.

Answer six is C, the nineteen twenties and thirties. Before that, Americans largely celebrated Halloween with parties and fortune-telling games, and elaborate yard displays were rare. In the nineteen twenties, Scottish and Irish immigrants in the United States began reviving old traditions of dressing up, visiting homes, and asking for food in exchange for prayers, songs, or other offerings. Those visits often turned rowdy and prank-heavy, so communities set up organized trick-or-treating, and decorations designed to entertain young visitors followed. Their popularity dipped during World War Two, then boomed with the postwar economy, which helped turn Halloween into the massive industry it is today.

Scoring for the Halloween history quiz is simple. Six correct means you could run the Halloween table at any party. Four or five means you know the holiday better than most people carving pumpkins this weekend. Fewer than four means the history lesson did its job, and you have something new to bring up between houses on Saturday. If personality quizzes are more your speed, the site's horror quiz matches you with a horror icon instead, and the pumpkin head trend shows the easiest costume video going around this year. Send this Halloween history quiz to the group chat before Saturday and settle who actually knows the holiday.