What does Halloween mean to you?
The who, what, why and when of Halloween.
We can trace the roots of Halloween back to the Celts circa 800bc, who were
located in what is now the United Kingdom and much of Western Europe. They
had a ritual on November 1st
,...
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What does Halloween mean to you?
The who, what, why and when of Halloween.
We can trace the roots of Halloween back to the Celts circa 800bc, who were
located in what is now the United Kingdom and much of Western Europe. They
had a ritual on November 1st
, which marked the change from the end of the harvest
season and the start of winter. They called it (pronounced Sow-Ain) Samhain after
their mythical Celtic lord of death.
On the eve of Samhain the Celts believed the separation between the living world
and the spiritual world was at its thinnest, allowing ghosts and goblins to bring
harm upon the living. Friends and relatives who had died would return with their
souls often in the form of a black cat.
Samhain was a festival celebrated with fire, as sacred bonfires were lit on the tops
of hills in honour of the Gods. Children, who had earlier been door to door down
their street collecting the kindling used to light the bonfires, were given food as
treats. At the close, the townsfolk wo
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