| Samhain, the traditional Celtic holiday, literally means | | | | had lived, and food and entertainment were provided |
| "summer's end." The Celts divided the year into two | | | | in their honor. This symbolized a village existing in |
| seasons, representing light and dark. The first day of | | | | harmony with its past, present and future. |
| each season held a celebration, with Beltane on May | | | | This also led to the tradition of lighting a single candle |
| 1st and Samhain on November 1st. | | | | in a window, to light the way for ancestors to find |
| Samhain was an important festival, as it welcomed | | | | their way home. Food offerings were also left on |
| new beginnings and a new year for the Celts. It also | | | | doorsteps for the spirits (which led to our modern |
| symbolized a union or communality between people. | | | | "trick or treating"). |
| Bonfires were lit by people within a village. While the | | | | It was the Romans who added their "Feast of the |
| bonfire blazed, villagers extinguished all other fires. | | | | Dead" to the celebration of Samhain. The Christians |
| Each family would then light its hearth from the | | | | destabilized the holiday by introducing "All Saint's Day" |
| common flame of the bonfire, bonding the families of | | | | on November 1st, and re-naming October 31st to All |
| a village together. | | | | Hallow's Eve, which later became Hallowe'en. For |
| Samhain Eve was a time of reflection for the Celts, | | | | Christians, All Saints Day celebrates the spirits in |
| and a time for honoring the dead. This particular time | | | | Heaven and Purgatory. It became customary to bang |
| of year signified the final harvest, a time of gathering | | | | pots and pans together on the eve of All Saint's Day, |
| and preparing for winter. Often winter was a time of | | | | to let the souls in Hell know they weren't forgotten. |
| famine and some would not survive through the long | | | | Samhain is also a major celebration of Wiccans, one |
| months ahead. Samhain was a way of honoring those | | | | of their eight holy Sabbats. For Wiccans, it is also a |
| who had died, a celebration of the spirit remembered. | | | | time of celebrating the past and the future to come. |
| It was a common belief that the "veil" between the | | | | Many Pagans celebrate the New Year at this time. |
| world of the living and the world of the dead was | | | | Though the holiday has changed over the years, its |
| thinnest on the eve of Samhain. In Modern times, | | | | intent remains clear - it is a celebration of respect for |
| many have twisted this thought to evil intent, though | | | | the dead and a celebration of the new beginning that |
| its origin is much more honorable. The dead could | | | | is to come. It is a holiday that commemorates the |
| return on this one night to the places where they | | | | togetherness of a community. |