HALLOWEEN

Abstract

Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The festival observed at this time was called Samhain. It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. Today Halloween is becoming once again an adult holiday or masquerade. Men and women in different costumes are taking to the streets of big American cities and parading, candlelit pumpkins and try to touch otherworldly and show their connection with roots and genus. They dress up in costumes of evil to be recognized for all his saints that evening according to legend. In so doing, they are reaffirming death and its place as a part of life in an celebration of a holy and magic evening.