Halloween

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In medieval times this was called "All Hallows Eve". Hallow is an old word meaning "holy" and "e´en" is Scottish for " evening".

October 31st is the day before the Feast of All Saints and was originally the eve of the new year in both Celtic (the Feast of the Death) and Anglo-Saxon times. The Celts lived in the British Isles during ancient times. They were pagans. They believe in the gods of nature.

There were two important festivals on the Celtic calendar: One was called Beltane. It marked the beginning of summer. The other was called Samhain (saun). It marked the end of the summer, on October 31. Samhain was also the last day of the year; on the Celtic calendar. The Druids were Celtic priest and teachers - They were very important in Celtic society. Everyone respected them. They practised magic and religious rituals on Samhain. On October 31, the Druids predicted the future. The celtic people dressed in scary costumes to frighten the evil spirits. They dressed as witches, ghost, skeletons. They also played games to bring good luck in the new year. The Celts believed that on the night of October31, ghost came out of their tombs. The spirits of the dead returned to earth. The Druid religion went on for a long time in Ireland and Scotland. Halloween continued to be important in both places.

After the Roman invasion in 43 AD, Samhain also became a harvest festival called Pomona. Pomona was the roman goddes of gardens and orchards. Nuts, fruits and apples were part of the Samhain ceremonies. Apples were sacred and lucky!. The colours of Halloween are orange and black. They represent the harvest ( orange) and death (black). After the Roman invasion, Christian rites substituted pagan rites.