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MAGAZINE - OCTOBER 2012
ncient Origins
of Halloween
Halloween’s origins date back
to the ancient Celtic festival of
Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years
ago in the area that is now Ire-
land, the United Kingdom and
northern France, cel-
ebrat-
ed their new year on
November
1.
This
day
marked the
end
of summer and the harvest and
the beginning of the dark, cold
winter, a time of year that was
often associated with human
death. Celts believed that on the
night before the New Year, the
boundary between the worlds of
the living and the dead became
blurred. On the night of October
31, they celebrated Samhain,
when it was believed that the
ghosts of the dead returned to
earth. In addition to causing
trouble and damaging crops,
Celts thought that the presence
of the otherworldly spirits made
it easier for the Druids, or Celtic
priests, to make predictions
about the future. For a peo-
ple entirely dependent on the
volatile natural world, these
prophecies were an impor-
tant source of comfort and
direction during the long,
dark winter.
To commemorate the
event, Dru-
ids built
huge
sacred
bonfires,
where the peo-
ple gathered to
burn crops and animals
as sacrifices to the Celtic dei-
ties. During the celebration, the
Celts wore costumes, typically
consisting of animal heads and
skins, and attempted to tell
each other’s fortunes. When the
celebration was over, they re-lit
their hearth fires, which they had
extinguished earlier that evening,
from the sacred bonfire to help
protect them during the coming
winter.
By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire
had conquered the majority of
Celtic territory. In the course of
the four hundred years that they
Origen of
A