Halloween is the wild child of holidays.  It's customs come from many different times in history and almost everywhere in the world.  It' s been serious, mystical, religious and just plain fun.  From it's beginnings to it's celebrations now, This Is Halloween!

      Halloween has been molded by many cultures.  Most have tried to use the holiday to suit their own purposes.  The holiday has changed many times over the years, but still maintains a richness that can't be denied.  Halloween hasn't even be considered a major holiday by most.

     Most folks in our present day United States consider Halloween the night when their children wear overpriced costumes and beg for candy which will put them into an indeterminate sugar high.  Children are thrilled that a holiday exists when they can go dressed up, get candy and have fun.  Next to Christmas, Halloween is probably a child's second favorite holiday.

     There were a number of cultures which celebrated this holiday as the Festival of the Dead.  This is the time of the year when things die and stay that way until spring's renewal.  It has also been the eve of the Celtic New Year.  Their year ended in October.   It's an interesting thing that the same day is the beginning as well as the end of something.  Not so strange when you know that Druids, Anglos and Celts based everything on cycles.

     Samhain:  The Celts believed there was a veil between the living and the dead.  On Halloween this veil was at it's most vunerable and allowed for contact between the two worlds.  The souls of those long gone believed to come and visit living relatives.  They came to the relatives because it was believed they wanted to be somewhere familiar to them.

     When the Romans conquered Great Britain and Gaul (France)  they tried to get rid of the Samhain celebrations and institute their own.  They were unsuccessful in ridding theirselves of the Samhain, but did bring their own harvest festival of Pomona. This festival honored the goddess of fruits and trees.  This festival was also held toward the end of October.  Over the years the traditions of both became interwoven becoming one holiday.

     It came to pass that the Roman emperor became afraid and fearful of the Druid reliegion.  Many Roman soldiers became enamored with the Druid religion.  Eventually Seutonius (a Roman Governor of Great Britain)  had all the groves where Druids held their sacrifices destroyed.  The Druid priests were murdered and the religion permanently banned.

    Once Christianity took control of the Roman Empire (sometime in the fourth century)  there was a declaration against pganism and everything associated with it.  The church then offered in exchange All Saints Day, which would come to be celebrated on November 1.  All Saints Day was to honor the saints and martyrs.

     The pagan Celtic religion wouldn't stay gone.  The church in answer to the problem, created another festival day, All Souls Day which came to be called Hallowmas, which was originally celebrated on November 2.  Eventually it transformed itself from Hallowmas to Halloween. This is the one we celebrate now.

     This mixture of cultures and celebrations past brings with it dressing in costume, trick-or-treating and tales of witches, ghosts, and hauntings that we associate with the holiday today.