About 2000 years ago in the area which today is Northern France, England, Scotland and Ireland, lived the Celts. Their festival of Samhain is where the traditions of Halloween originated.
November 1, the beginning of their new year marked the end of summer and the harvest. The dark and cold winter was coming. This time of year was associated with death.
Beliefes was that on the night before the new year(October 31) the gates, between the world of the living and the world of the dead, opened. On this night it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to our world.
The night of October 31 is when they celebrated Samhain, were they sacrified crops and animals to the Celtic gods. This for the gods to protect them against the trouble caused by the dead and prevent them from damaging their crops.
Celts also thought that the precense of the spirits of the dead made it easier for the celtic priests to predict the future. Since the Celts depended entirely on the natural world these predictions were a source of comfort and direction during the winter.
To mark the day of Samhain the priests build huge bonfires for people to gather around to make their sacrifices. During this festival the Celts normally wore costumes and tried to tell each other’s fortunes.
Their costumes were normally of animal heads and skins.
Before their celebration started, the Celts “extinguished the fire in their hearts” and after it is all over they “re-lit” that fire from the sacred bonfire to protect them during the winter.
This is how it all started and how we now have what we call Halloween!
