by Nicola Windmill

Created on: June 11, 2008

Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, zombies, skeletons, evil witches, and black cats; these are among the most popular images of Halloween.

The majority of people, when asked, will say that Halloween is a time for children to dress up as ghosts and ghouls, roaming from door to door shouting Trick-or-Treat' for sweets and money.

Those that do guess Halloween has any connection with religion, think that it is a devil worshiper's holiday.

Halloween is celebrated' throughout most of the Western World on 31st of October. Most countries have embraced Halloween as part of the relatively new Americanised version and almost, if not completely, forgotten the old traditions of this ancient Pagan festival.

Not many are aware of the true origins of this time of year. Not many really stop and think about where Trick-or-Treat', Jack-O'-Lantern's' or the reason behind dressing up as monsters comes from.

What's in a name?

The celebration of October 31st has its roots deep in history. The name Halloween' or All Hallows' Eve', however, is only 1200 years old.

The term comes from Hallow' and Eve' as it is the evening before All Hallows Day' or All Saints' Day', which is a Christian feast day dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the martyrs.

This feast day was moved from its original date of May 13th to November 1st in the eighth century by Pope Gregory III in an effort to standardise religious practises and to try and Christianise' the most important Pagan Holiday of the year.

A feast day to commemorate those souls temporarily condemned to Purgatory was also introduced on November 2nd 998 B.C. in the form of All Souls' Day'.

Throughout history the Church has tried to wipe out ancient festivals by purposely setting Christian Holy days to coincide with them.

Missionaries thought that by using the native beliefs of a particular community, they could slowly convert the people to Christianity.

For example, instead of knocking down an ancient sacred stone, they would consecrate it to Christ and allow its continued worship.
And so this principle was applied to October 31st. The Church did everything in its power to eliminate this most sacred of all the ancient festivals for fear of what it stood for.

Ancient Beliefs

The true name of this festival is Samhain (pronounced "sow-in" or "sa-veen"), which means summer's end', when the God of the corn is said to die so that he can be reborn again at the winter solstice.

Each festival in the Celtic calendar signals a different phase in the Earths seasons. Samhain

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