Before we dive into Rome’s current Halloween festivities, let’s journey back to the festival’s roots.

While Halloween as we know it has Celtic origins, linked to the ancient festival of Samhain, its underlying themes of honoring the dead and interacting with the supernatural also existed in ancient Rome. The Romans, too, had a festival dedicated to the spirits of the deceased called Lemuria. During Lemuria, Romans believed that the souls of the dead roamed the earth, and they would offer them food or perform rituals to appease restless spirits.

Rome has its own cultural and religious traditions that intersect with some of the symbols associated with Halloween. Here’s how Halloween and its symbolism might blend or relate to Roman culture:

In Roman mythology, Pluto (the Roman god of the underworld, akin to Hades in Greek mythology) ruled over the dead. In Ancient Rome belief in an afterlife and their reverence for the deceased is comparable to the Halloween themes of death, spirits, and the afterlife. The Roman holiday Lemuria involved rituals to ward off malevolent spirits of the dead, which is like some Halloween practices of honoring or warding off the dead. The Romans believed that lemures were malevolent ghosts who could cause mischief if not properly honored or appeased. During Lemuria, families would perform rituals to cleanse their homes of these spirits. One common ritual involved throwing black beans over their shoulders while reciting incantations to drive the spirits away.

Similarly, Feralia, a Roman festival held in late February, was dedicated to honoring the spirits of deceased ancestors. People would bring offerings to tombs and perform rites to ensure peace for the departed souls. While these festivals occurred at various times of the year, the beliefs behind them—communing with the dead, warding off evil spirits, and honoring ancestors—mirror many of the elements found in modern Halloween.

The Romans had a festival dedicated to Pomona, the goddess of fruit and orchards, around the end of October. Pomona’s association with apples and the harvest aligns with certain Halloween traditions like bobbing for apples. Apples themselves have become a symbol of harvest and autumn, which ties into both Roman and Halloween celebrations of the seasonal transition.

The Roman reverence for cemeteries and the dead connects to the Halloween tradition of decorating graves and remembering those who have passed. The Catacombs of Rome, ancient burial places, symbolize the Roman connection to the dead. While Halloween is now a secular holiday filled with costumes and revelry, its deeper roots in death and remembrance can be found mirrored in Rome’s ancient practices of burial and ancestor worship.