| The contemporary celebration of Halloween | | | | celebrations. There are foam latex faces of |
| comes from the ancient Celtic festival of | | | | ape men, aliens, demons, devils, mummies, |
| `Samhain. It is an annual celebration | | | | reptiles, skulls, swamp witches, vampires, |
| observed on October 31. It is a tapered | | | | werewolves, zombies and other scary monsters. |
| version of All Hallows Eve. Halloween came to | | | | |
| America through the Irish, who are believed | | | | The ancient Celts believed that all those who |
| to be modern descendents of the Celts. When | | | | had died throughout the preceding year would |
| the potato crop failed in Ireland, they | | | | come back in search of living bodies to |
| migrated to America and brought their | | | | possess for the next year. This was |
| cultural practices with them. | | | | unacceptable for living people, so on the |
| | | | night of October 31 villagers would put out |
| Halloween was also observed as a harvest | | | | fires in their homes to make the spirits feel |
| festival and New Year by the Celts. It also | | | | discarded. They would then dress up in all |
| served as a vent for high morale before the | | | | manner of macabre costumes and parade around |
| onset of winter. In fact, in the 5th Century | | | | the neighborhood in order to scare away |
| B.C. in Celtic Ireland summer officially | | | | spirits looking for live bodies to possess. |
| ended on October 31 and the Samhain was | | | | There is also a record of Celts flaming up |
| observed on this occasion. | | | | people thought to be haunted, as a stern |
| | | | warning to the spirits. However, modern |
| Masks are now used as part of Halloween | | | | historians dismiss these as fairy tales. |