Transcript[]
Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby
Tim and Moby enter their house in Halloween costumes. Tim is dressed as a pirate and Moby is wearing a monster costume. Both carry a plastic pumpkin candy bucket.
TIM: Arr, matey! It was a fine time trick-or-treating this year.
MOBY: Beep.
Moby removes the head of the monster costume, revealing his own face.
TIM: OK, and now let's count up the candy.
Tim empties his Halloween pumpkin onto a counter. There are several pieces of candy.
TIM: 'It is a king's ransom in chocolate and sugar. Now pour out your Candy, you salty dog and let's eat.
MOBY: Beep.
Moby empties his Halloween pumpkin onto the counter. There are several metal springs, screws, and small gears. Moby picks up and eats a handful of the metal pieces.
TIM: Wow.
Tim reads from a typed letter.
TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, why do we have Halloween? Sincerely, Michael. Hey, Michael. Halloween has kind of a long and interesting history. It begins more than 2,000 years ago, in ancient Britain and Ireland.
A map shows an orange Ireland and Britain against a dark-gray background. Scary orange text next to the islands identifies them.
TIM: Back then, the land belonged to a group of people called the Celts.
An image shows a Celt family, with a mother, a father, and a child. The father holds a sickle.
TIM: November 1st was an important holiday for the Celts. It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.
An image shows a calendar page for the month of November. The first day of the month is highlighted.
TIM: To celebrate, they had a giant festival that began on the night of October 31st .
November's calendar page is replaced by October's calendar page. The 31st day of October is highlighted.
TIM: It was called Samhain.
An animation shows small bonfires burning in a dark, hilly area. A full moon shines above.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Yeah, I know. It's spelled differently than how it's pronounced.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: When did you become such a stickler?
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: During Samhain, the Celts would light bonfires and sacrifice crops and livestock to their gods.
An image shows ancient Celts standing around a bonfire. They are throwing some crops and a sheep into the flames.
TIM: They would dress up in animal skins and hides during the festivities.
An image shows Celts dancing outdoors. They are dressed in animal skins and wearing animal heads.
TIM: The Celts believed that the ghosts of the dead, along with fairies, goblins, and other supernatural beings, roamed the Earth during Samhain.
An animation shows supernatural beings roaming through the bonfire-studded landscape.
TIM: These beings could cause a lot of trouble.
An animation shows a goblin throwing toilet paper on a small Celtic cottage. The goblin giggles.
TIM: To keep them at bay, people would leave food for them outside their houses.
An animation shows a Celtic man opening the front door of his house just a crack and throwing a chicken drumstick out onto the ground. The goblin giggles again, picks up the food, and runs off with it.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Well, during the first century CE, the Romans conquered Britain.
An image shows Roman soldiers beside a map of Europe, with an arrow indicating their march from Rome to the island of Britain.
TIM: Over the next few centuries, two Roman holidays became combined with Samhain. First, there was Feralia, which honored the dead.
An image shows a dead Roman on a slab. He is covered from the neck down with a sheet and has burning candles around him.
TIM: And then there was the feast of Pomona, which honored the goddess of fruit orchards and the harvest.
Another image shows Pomona, walking through a wheat crop while holding a basket of apples.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Well, Pomona's symbol was an apple, so some historians believe that the tradition of bobbing for apples began with her festival.
An image shows young people in Halloween costumes bobbing for apples alongside the image of Pomona.
TIM: Anyway, in the fourth and fifth century, Christianity reached the British Isles. The Celts and the other people that lived there all converted, but in many places, the old holidays were still celebrated.
An animation shows a Christian church under a full moon. In the surrounding woods, bonfires burn.
TIM: To get them to stop, the Pope replaced Samhain with Christian holidays. November 2nd became All Souls' Day, a day to remember the souls of the dead. November 1st became All Saints' Day, a day honoring Christian martyrs. And October 31st was All Hallows' Eve, which was shortened to Halloween.
Graphics use October and November calendar pages to indicate the dates Tim describes.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Well, "hallows" is Old English for "saints," and "een" means "evening," so Halloween literally means "the evening before All Saints' Day." The traditions we associate with Halloween gradually evolved over the centuries.
Scary orange text reads: Halloween. Images show a jack-o-lantern, candy, and a Halloween mask.
TIM: By medieval times, the tradition of leaving food out for the dead had evolved into a ritual called souling. Beggars would go from door to door at Halloween time. They would promise to pray for the souls of people's dead relatives. In return, they'd receive some food.
An image shows a beggar standing at a woman's door. The woman is holding a lit candle with one hand and handing the beggar food with the other.
TIM: That's probably how trick-or-treating began.
A second image shows a young trick-or-treater at a woman's door, receiving candy in much the same way as the beggar received food.
TIM: In Ireland, people began dressing up as ghosts and goblins in order to blend in with the supernatural creatures that wandered the Earth on Halloween.
An image shows three people dressed as supernatural creatures.
TIM: They also began carving scary faces onto turnips, gourds, and potatoes.
An animation shows jack-o-lantern faces carved into a turnip, a gourd, and a potato. Each carved face glows from a burning candle within it.
TIM: They'd place them in windows or near doors to keep these beings away from their homes.
An animation shows two jack-o-lanterns on a home's windowsill. The faces glow from candles within them. Evil creatures approach and make strange noises in the darkness outside the home. Then they see the faces and slink away, frightened.
TIM: That's how the tradition of carving jack-o-lanterns got started.
An animation shows a glowing jack-o-lantern, carved from a pumpkin.
TIM: When people from Scotland and Ireland immigrated to America, they brought their traditions with them.
A map and arrows represent immigration from Ireland and Scotland, across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States.
TIM: They caught on, and pretty soon, kids across the country were making mischief and trick-or-treating on Halloween night.
An image shows two young trick-or-treaters. One is dressed as a wizard, and the other is dressed as a vampire.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: What do you mean, I'm making Halloween boring?
MOBY: Beep beep.
Moby scowls and looks away from Tim.
TIM: You want it to be more scary, huh? All right. How's this?
The room goes dark, and Tim's face becomes deformed and monstrous. Then everything returns to normal.
MOBY: Beep.
Moby beeps several more times as he runs out of the room. There is a sound of the front door opening and closing. Tim laughs.
TIM: Happy Halloween, everybody.