| Americans has become one of America's favorite | | | | represent the creatures of the forest that had |
| holidays. Last year Americans spent more than $3 | | | | blessed them that year. At the end of the |
| billion last year on Halloween candy, costumes, | | | | ceremony, each family would take home an |
| pumpkins and decorations. Millions of children (and | | | | ember to light their own winter hearth |
| adults!) look forward to this happy event.But it | | | | fires.Christianity came to the British Isles |
| hasn't always been so. Once upon a time, | | | | somewhere around the second century AD. One |
| Halloween was a night to be feared, when the | | | | of the tactics of early missionaries was to make |
| dead walked the earth.The history of our modern | | | | Christianity more palatable by incorporating local |
| Halloween begins with an ancient Celtic holiday | | | | customs into Christian practice. For example, early |
| called Samhain (pronounced sow-en). The Celts | | | | missionaries were willing to abandon the stricture |
| lived in present day Ireland and England dating to | | | | that converts first become Jews when they ran |
| about the 5th Century BC.For the Celts, Samhain | | | | across cultural barriers, and it is thought that the |
| marked the end of summer. The date is generally | | | | date of Christmas was selected to coincide with a |
| given as October 31, but it is unlikely that is the | | | | Germanic winter festival.As the story goes, the |
| exact date.For the Celts, as for many ancient | | | | Celts were unwilling to give up their summer |
| peoples, the end of summer was an event | | | | festival, so the missionaries simply incorporated |
| viewed with dread. Summer represented a time | | | | it.In the 700s, Pope Boniface IV set November 1 |
| of warmth and plentiful food; with winter the | | | | as All Hallows -- or All Saints -- Day. The previous |
| nights became longer, and food was scarce. And | | | | night was thus known as All Hallows Eve. |
| for the superstitious mind, long nights were | | | | November 2 became All Souls Day, to honor the |
| accompanied by unwelcome spirits.Much of what | | | | souls of the dead. The three days together were |
| has been written about Celtic religion about Celtic | | | | called Hallow Mass.And All Hallows Eve became |
| religion is the product of the writers' vivid | | | | Halloween.It is widely believed that Boniface IV did |
| imagination. Despite the legends, it's highly unlikely | | | | this to co-opt the pagan Celtic holdouts into |
| that the Celts sacrificed virgins in burning wicker | | | | Christianity.Halloween arrived in North America |
| cages, and they probably didn't dance naked | | | | with the early colonists. However, because of the |
| around Stonehenge.Most reputable historians agree | | | | Puritan influence in New England, it was mostly |
| on one of two stories.According to one, the Celts | | | | confined to the Scots-Irish of the Southern |
| believed that Samhain was the night on which the | | | | Colonies.Colonial Halloweens were celebrated as |
| spirits of the dead were permitted to return to | | | | Harvest Festivals, with lots of eating and drinking, |
| Earth to find a body to posess. To avoid this | | | | music, dancing, ghost stories and fortune telling. |
| unpleasant fate, the superstitious Celts tried two | | | | (All of these were things that were disapproved |
| tricks: First, they would douse all of the hearth | | | | of in Puritan New England. Some more of our |
| fires in their village, to trick the spirits into thinking | | | | modern Halloween symbols were introduced at |
| that no one was home. Then, they would don | | | | this time, as traditions were blended with Native |
| costumes to fool the spirits and wander about in | | | | American harvest festivals. Corn stalks and |
| the dark. The real spirits, thinking that the village | | | | pumpkins - unknown in Europe before the |
| already was haunted, would then contine on their | | | | discovery of North America - became part of |
| journey.Three of the modern Halloween fixtures | | | | Halloween imagery.But Halloween really arrived in |
| are said to come from this legend: Ghosts (spirits | | | | America with the massive Irish immigration of the |
| of the dead) costumes and dark, empty | | | | 1840s. The Irish brought their Celtic Halloween |
| houses.To mark the end of the night, the villagers | | | | traditions with them and wove them into the |
| then would relight all of their hearth fires from a | | | | fabric of American society.More on the history of |
| sacred bonfire built by their priests, the Druids.A | | | | Halloween can be found at Top Halloween Links at |
| more gruesome version says that part of the | | | | Retzer has worked as a professional journalist, |
| bonfire ceremony involved the ignition of a young, | | | | photographer, editor, public relations professional |
| innocent village girl. This, however, is more likely | | | | and golf coach. He currently teaches economics, |
| Hollywood than history.The second version of the | | | | political science and history. In his "spare time" he |
| Celtic holiday says that they celebrated the end | | | | runs several websites and blogs, including Top |
| of summer with a huge bonfire. Animals and | | | | Halloween Links at and Golf Blogger at article is |
| crops would be burned in the fire to give thanks | | | | derived from his lectures on the History of |
| for the summer, and to ensure their return the | | | | Halloween. |
| next year. Costumes of animals were worn to | | | | |