by Norman A. Rubin

Created on: September 27, 2009   Last Updated: September 28, 2009

The night of 31st of October is marked in devilry when witches roam and Jack-o-Lanterns (carved pumpkins in the form of a smiling faces) give light to the scared ones. Black and orange is the color of the dark night. Children in the cool of the evening and dressed in costumes run about to houses in their 'trick or trick' ritual some boys and girls in costume of their choice make for parties where spooky stories are told and there candy witches and goblins are eaten. In small townships bonfires are lit on that eve where the citizens gather, some in costume, to sing and tell stories with the flavor of Halloween.. While some older children make that night for pulling pranks on people or simply watching horror films. As to the adults they have their own rituals of costume parties in homes decorated with symbolism of Halloween and where quantities of food and drink are served.

Note: Witches and other evil spirits were believed to roam the earth on this spooky evening, and Celtic people would offer them symbolically sweets and other delicacies to placate them. In turn through the years the traditional 'trick or treat' ritual by children in costumes on the eve of Halloween is a reminder of this act from the ancient past. http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Hallow-e' en

On the thirty-first of October marks the Celtic Feast of Samhain (and Halloween in the modern era) - Way back in ancient times the Celts celebrated the Goddess 'Feast of Samhain' (or Samhuinn) eve. In the Celtic calendar, the eve marked the end of the old year, and at the light of rising sun at dawn marked the beginning of a new year. Thus Samhain is a time between the years, and between the worlds, the veil between the past and present, the living and the dead. In Pagan Ireland, Samhain Day (La Samhna) itself was a mid-week festival where the king would receive the representative body of his nation who bore examples of their arts and crafts which they made the crafted items a gift to the royal majesty.. Excerpts from the "The Pagan Book of Days' Nigel Pennick.

It is the Festival of the Dead and on that eve where the pagans remember their ancestors and hail their descendants. Bonfires were lit on that night and costumes and masks by the folk in Celtic tradition of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them. The wave of Irish immigrants during the Ireland's Famine of 1846 carried versions of the Celtic traditions to America.

Another Celtic tradition brought by the Irish immigrants was

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