| Americans has become one of America's | | | | year. Costumes of animals were worn to |
| favorite holidays. Last year Americans spent | | | | represent the creatures of the forest that |
| more than $3 billion last year on Halloween | | | | had blessed them that year. At the end of the |
| candy, costumes, pumpkins and decorations. | | | | ceremony, each family would take home an |
| Millions of children (and adults!) look | | | | ember to light their own winter hearth |
| forward to this happy event.But it hasn't | | | | fires.Christianity came to the British Isles |
| always been so. Once upon a time, Halloween | | | | somewhere around the second century AD. One |
| was a night to be feared, when the dead | | | | of the tactics of early missionaries was to |
| walked the earth.The history of our modern | | | | make Christianity more palatable by |
| Halloween begins with an ancient Celtic | | | | incorporating local customs into Christian |
| holiday called Samhain (pronounced sow-en). | | | | practice. For example, early missionaries |
| The Celts lived in present day Ireland and | | | | were willing to abandon the stricture that |
| England dating to about the 5th Century | | | | converts first become Jews when they ran |
| BC.For the Celts, Samhain marked the end of | | | | across cultural barriers, and it is thought |
| summer. The date is generally given as | | | | that the date of Christmas was selected to |
| October 31, but it is unlikely that is the | | | | coincide with a Germanic winter festival.As |
| exact date.For the Celts, as for many ancient | | | | the story goes, the Celts were unwilling to |
| peoples, the end of summer was an event | | | | give up their summer festival, so the |
| viewed with dread. Summer represented a time | | | | missionaries simply incorporated it.In the |
| of warmth and plentiful food; with winter the | | | | 700s, Pope Boniface IV set November 1 as All |
| nights became longer, and food was scarce. | | | | Hallows -- or All Saints -- Day. The previous |
| And for the superstitious mind, long nights | | | | night was thus known as All Hallows Eve. |
| were accompanied by unwelcome spirits.Much of | | | | November 2 became All Souls Day, to honor the |
| what has been written about Celtic religion | | | | souls of the dead. The three days together |
| about Celtic religion is the product of the | | | | were called Hallow Mass.And All Hallows Eve |
| writers' vivid imagination. Despite the | | | | became Halloween.It is widely believed that |
| legends, it's highly unlikely that the Celts | | | | Boniface IV did this to co-opt the pagan |
| sacrificed virgins in burning wicker cages, | | | | Celtic holdouts into Christianity.Halloween |
| and they probably didn't dance naked around | | | | arrived in North America with the early |
| Stonehenge.Most reputable historians agree on | | | | colonists. However, because of the Puritan |
| one of two stories.According to one, the | | | | influence in New England, it was mostly |
| Celts believed that Samhain was the night on | | | | confined to the Scots-Irish of the Southern |
| which the spirits of the dead were permitted | | | | Colonies.Colonial Halloweens were celebrated |
| to return to Earth to find a body to posess. | | | | as Harvest Festivals, with lots of eating and |
| To avoid this unpleasant fate, the | | | | drinking, music, dancing, ghost stories and |
| superstitious Celts tried two tricks: First, | | | | fortune telling. (All of these were things |
| they would douse all of the hearth fires in | | | | that were disapproved of in Puritan New |
| their village, to trick the spirits into | | | | England. Some more of our modern Halloween |
| thinking that no one was home. Then, they | | | | symbols were introduced at this time, as |
| would don costumes to fool the spirits and | | | | traditions were blended with Native American |
| wander about in the dark. The real spirits, | | | | harvest festivals. Corn stalks and pumpkins - |
| thinking that the village already was | | | | unknown in Europe before the discovery of |
| haunted, would then contine on their | | | | North America - became part of Halloween |
| journey.Three of the modern Halloween | | | | imagery.But Halloween really arrived in |
| fixtures are said to come from this legend: | | | | America with the massive Irish immigration of |
| Ghosts (spirits of the dead) costumes and | | | | the 1840s. The Irish brought their Celtic |
| dark, empty houses.To mark the end of the | | | | Halloween traditions with them and wove them |
| night, the villagers then would relight all | | | | into the fabric of American society.More on |
| of their hearth fires from a sacred bonfire | | | | the history of Halloween can be found at Top |
| built by their priests, the Druids.A more | | | | Halloween Links at Retzer has worked as a |
| gruesome version says that part of the | | | | professional journalist, photographer, |
| bonfire ceremony involved the ignition of a | | | | editor, public relations professional and |
| young, innocent village girl. This, however, | | | | golf coach. He currently teaches economics, |
| is more likely Hollywood than history.The | | | | political science and history. In his "spare |
| second version of the Celtic holiday says | | | | time" he runs several websites and blogs, |
| that they celebrated the end of summer with a | | | | including Top Halloween Links at and Golf |
| huge bonfire. Animals and crops would be | | | | Blogger at article is derived from his |
| burned in the fire to give thanks for the | | | | lectures on the History of Halloween. |
| summer, and to ensure their return the next | | | | |