THE STORY OF HALLOWEEN (given to me by Pat Protomanni)

Halloween is celebrated annually.  But just how and when did this peculiar
custom originate?  is it, some claim, a kind of demon worship?  Or is it
just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic
Church.  It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve.  November
1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance
in honor of saints.  But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer
officially ended on October 31.  The holiday called Samhain (sow-en), the
Celtic New Year.  One story says that on that day, the disembodied spirits of
all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in
search of living bodies to possess for the next year.  It was believed to be
their only hope for the afterlife, (Panati).  The Celts believed all laws of
space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to
intermingle with the living, (Gahagan).

Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed.  So on the night
of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make
them cold and undesirable.  They would then dress up in all manner of
ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as
destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies
to possess, (Panati).  Probably a better explanation of why the Celts
extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so
that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source,
the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach,
(Gahagan).