Amid all the fun and festivities of the modern day celebration we now refer to as 'Halloween' ~ Let's look at where it originated from and see if what we do today has anything in common with what the 31st of October stands for.

 

The name is directly linked to the ancient Celtic festival of Hallow E'ne ( also called 'Hallowmas' ) in Ireland. This evolved from 'All Hallows Eve' which can be simply translated as 'the night of everyone sacred' and originated from an even older pagan holiday honouring the dead. On All Hallows Eve, the veil between the world of the living and the dead was at it's thinnest. it allowed the souls of the dead to return to earth and roam amongst the living searching for a passageway to the netherworld. Lord Samhain would roam the earth in search of these souls to capture them and take them to his world of darkness. To this day people put lights in their windows to help the dead find their way, and keep Lord Samhain from taking them. People would leave food and drink for the dead in the hope that the evil spirits would leave them alone. They would also cave out turnips and suedes and place embers in them to further ward off evil spirits. Hence the modern day 'trick or treat' candy ritual and the carved pumpkins. According to the Celtic peoples Druid religion, November the 1st was New Years Day on their calendar and was known as the 'Feast of Samhain'. The celebration would begin on October the 31st and last into the following day. The spirits of all who died in the prior year would rise up and roam the earth on this night for one last chance of mortal passions.

Samhain was known in Ireland as the 'Lord of Darkness' and the 'Lord of the Dead' due to the links to death and the netherworld. The Druid religion was practiced by the ancient Celtic tribes that populated Ireland and England as well as other parts of Europe. This religion worshipped Samhain the Lord of Darkness. The celts only recognised summer and winter seasons and literally translated Samhain means 'Summers End'. At this time the hours of the night grow signifcantly over the hours of sunlight. Hence, Lord Samhain reigned over the long winter months as the influence of the Sun God and the summer season ( Beltaine or Beltane ) recede's. Samhain's influence grows with the increase in the hours of darkness he can only roam the earth during the darkness hours.

The Druid religion dating back to 200B.C. had both priests and priestesses. These magicians, soothsayers or wizards filled the most important roles in Celtic culture. at the time the Celtic tribes were very close and connected to nature, as a result, they worshipped many things in nature as their gods. No Druid god was more powerful, nor more feared, than Lord Samhain. 

As shown, the roots of Halloween can be traced back to the Druid religion and Lord Samhain. Most definately, Halloween took the various aspects of the darkness, the colour black, evil spirits and people rising up from the dead and roaming the earth on this night. These modern day themes are all in common with this ancient religion.

Today's festival is second only to Christmas worldwide and is catching up fast. In terms of commerciality an estimated $10 billion is generated globally from consumer spending. No doubt that due to Halloweens ability to bridge cultures and beliefs it will at some point become the main worldwide celebration and not before it's time considering that it pre-dates christianity I feel this is only fair and quite fitting.