| The story of
Halloween goes back over 2000 years to the ancient Celts. Druidic
priests regarded the day as the end of the year. Not only was it their day for celebrating
the year's harvest, but October 31 itself was also the day of Samhain, a festival for
honoring the dead. In order to appease the wandering spirits they believed roamed at
night, the Celtic priests made fires in which they burned sacrifices, made charms, and
cast spells. Portions of the Celtic holiday of the dead eventually passed into Christian culture after the Romans conquered the Celts and tried to bring the Celts into the "Christian fold." It eventually became apparent to the church leaders that the Celts, in spite of their conformation to some aspects of Christian culture, were stubbornly sticking with elements of their old religion. So, in the seventh century AD, the church moved its All Saints' Day, a holiday for honoring early Christian martyrs, from a day in May to November 1, thus associating it with the old Druid death rituals of October 31. By the tenth century A.D., the Catholic Church had added a new holiday, All Souls' Day. This day was set aside to honor all of the dead, not just the early Christian Saints. Celebration of Halloween came to America with early Irish and Scottish immigrants. By then, though, it had already started to lose its mysterious overtones and was becoming merely a harvest celebration: a night of bobbing for apples, eating popcorn, and telling ghost stories around a bonfire. It was already changing into the holiday for children with which we in the 20th century are so familiar. (History of Halloween courtesy of HALLOWEEN ETERNAL.) Halloween is a fun, exciting, disgusting, and terrifying holiday all at the same time! Thanks for celebrating All Souls' Day with Aristotle®. We hope you enjoy the site! Gruesome
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