Halloween is a pagan festival of Celtic origin. It was an important festival called Samhain, observed seriously. What has happened now is that after the festival tradition has passed to America, the serious side of it has all but vanished, and it has just become a "crazy night out".

The Celts in pre-Chrisitian times observed the festival of Samhain on 31st October. On this night which is the end of the summer (which is what Samhain means) it was believed that the spirits of those who died in the previous year would rise from their graves and roam the earth. The living welcomed the harmless spirits of their ancestors, but warded off the harmful spirits.

Costumes and masks were used as a disguise, so that the wearer would be like a harmful spirit himself, causing confusion so as to avoid harm from the bad spirits.

Strangley enough the festival also became associated with the harvest. This appears to have been after the Romans had taken control. So this was both a festival of death and of harvest.

With the introduction of Chrisitianity, the church countered this pagan celebration with its own All Saints' Day. It's widely known that Halloween is derived from All Hallows. Hallows means saints. But it is relatively unknown that All Saints was originally celebrated on May 13 but was officially moved to November 1 during the time of Pope Gregory IV in the year 837.

Halloween is Eve of All Hallows. So, many take it as a kind free-for-all evening, a last fling, in preparation for the more serious business of All Saints. But in fact Halloween is a pagan festival of the dead, and has nothing to do with All Saints.

Some people have been bent on cauing trouble on Halloween. Some satanist groups have claimed it as a night of their own, with their own rituals of Satan and devil worship and witchcraft.

Halloween was adopted by the Church of Satan, founded in 1966, as one of its holidays. The founder, Anton Szandor LaVey, died on 29 October 1997. Some claim that he died on Halloween, and there is a death certificate with that date (31 October) on it. His notoriety was widespread, and the newspapers gave him the title of 'The Black Pope".

A rumour went round, and it is still sometimes reported, that he played the role of the devil in the highly successful movie Rosemary's Baby (1968). The role is credited to Clay Tanner, but some insist that it was Lavey, and he just used the name of Clay Tanner. It may true, however, that a local San Francisco theater asked LaVey to make an appearance in a promotional event for the movie.

Others engage in pranks and mischief, vandalism and sometimes more serious violence.

A random search on the internet showed that in 1982 there were reports of drug-laced candy being served at a kindergarten party; there were two dozen reports of needles, nails, pins and razors found in candy. The Coulumbus, Ohio police said that this was no more than usual for Halloween. In Iowa an elderly man was killed by a man wearing a mask demanding treat or treat.

Popular culture has also glorified the dark side of Halloween in the movies. The commercialisation of Halloween has spread the practice of ghoulish celebrations across the globe, especially where Western influence has taken hold. People treat it as a fun night, devoid of any meaning, religious or anti-religious. It's the adults who dress up and party - the practice of kids going around trick or treating has not quite taken hold.

But it is still in the U.S. that Halloween is most seriously celebrated - perhaps "most unseriously" is a more apt description.

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