| People often think of the celebration of Halloween as | | | | and famine. |
| a pagan tradition, while quite literally, it's not. That's | | | | Why the Samhain? |
| true as far as historians of Western traditions are | | | | Why did the Celts celebrate Samhain? The summer |
| concerned, because it's simply a contracted version | | | | months were usually the months when people |
| of All Hallow Even. In other places, the event is called | | | | gathered food; during the winter months, the food |
| the eve of All Saint's Day, which takes place every | | | | becomes scarce and the forces of Nature become |
| first of November. | | | | more dominant. This was when humans bowed down |
| What's your Halloween like? | | | | to the superior force of the seasons, wind, ice and |
| In many regions of the world, Halloween was the | | | | the unbearable cold. |
| time for people to remember the souls in Purgatory. | | | | Negative reaction to Halloween |
| The souls in Purgatory were the souls in limbo; those | | | | In the past decades, there has been a negative |
| who are awaiting final judgment by performing acts | | | | reaction to the celebration of Halloween. Because the |
| of cleansing. | | | | celebration is not completely Christian, many parents |
| In Dante Alighieri's books, the souls in Purgatorio are | | | | and school administrators think that the celebration |
| individuals who are neither in Paradiso nor Inferno. In | | | | should be banned completely in schools. |
| the modern appropriation, the day next to All | | | | While it's improbable that the ancient Celts were |
| Hallowed Even is All Soul's Day (carried out on | | | | really worshipping the Christian Lucifer, the fallen angel |
| November 2). | | | | himself, the original rituals of Samhain are not really |
| Samhain | | | | that palatable to modern sensibilities. |
| Some scholars think that Halloween has its older | | | | Records & strange, modern depictions |
| roots in the Roman celebration of the Pomona, which | | | | In movies like those that feature the character |
| is linked to the Roman goddess of harvest. Another | | | | Michael Myers (the Halloween series of movies), the |
| Roman celebration that may have something to do | | | | Samhain was used as a central category that |
| with how Halloween is celebrated is the Parentilia. The | | | | encompassed how a person can sacrifice to oppose |
| Parentilia is a celebration of the dead. | | | | the forces of life and death. The ritualistic ceremonies |
| As for the Celtic origin of Halloween, researchers | | | | that the main character espoused built an image of |
| point to Samhain or Samuin (sow-an), which is carried | | | | the Samhain that stank of 'evil' in the most modern |
| out when the summer days finally end. The | | | | (yet ironically, comic) sense. |
| celebration of Samhain is often paired with another | | | | More ironically, there are very few extant records of |
| celebration known as the feast of Beltane. The feast | | | | how the Druids really carried about their ritualistic |
| of Beltane is a celebration of the powers of life. | | | | festivities. Only a known personage, Pliny the Elder |
| As you can already see, even the Celtic cultural | | | | was able to provide a hint. However, there were no |
| tradition builds upon binaries, like Chinese medicine or | | | | humans being sacrificed on a pointed stick. Rather, |
| Indian Ayurvedic tradition. There must be balance, so | | | | two white bulls were used, in a ceremony that |
| both the forces of death and life have to be in | | | | appeared to be a run-the-mill offering for better |
| balance. Where there is balance of life and death | | | | fertility. |
| energies, there is life. With imbalance, there is disease | | | | |