History
Spirits
It is common
knowledge that many
of our modern traditions
have roots in pagan rituals.
Halloween is no exception. There were many festivals celebrated in early
times at the change of seasons. Halloween could have it's roots in what
once was known as Samhain, a festival that was celebrated on October 31.
Samhain was a festival to mourn the end of summer, honor the dead and look
towards the future. Samhain was
known to ancient Celtic
priests as the god of the dead. Samhain controlled the spirits of the dead and
could allow them to rest peacefully or make them go wild on the evening of
October 31. On this night, Samhain called together the souls of all those who
had died during that year. To pay for their sins, these souls were put in the
bodies of animals. 
The greater the sin, the lower the
animal that his soul was placed in. These spirits of the dead were thought to
roam the earth on October 31.
Black
Cats
Black cats
were thought by the Celtic priests 
to have once been people who had been turned
into cats. The black cat is also associated with witches. People
thought that witches were able to turn themselves into black cats leading to the
belief that black cats were bad luck.
Costumes
The custom
of wearing costumes also came from the 
ancient Celts. They believed that
if you wore a costume, you could hide from the spirits walking the earth on
Halloween night.
Jack-O-Lanterns
Ancient
people would carve out pumpkins and place candles inside to scare spirits away.
An Irish tradition tells of a man named Jack who
was too wicked for heaven and
was cast out of hell for playing tricks on the devil. He was condemned to
walk the earth forever carrying a lantern.
