How did Halloween Come Into Existence?

May be you're wondering how halloween came to exist.

Here's a brief info:

The Celts celebrated New Year on November 1st.
It was celebrated every year with a festival and marked the
end of the season of the sun and the beginning of the season
of darkness and cold.

On October 31st after the crops were harvested and stored for
the long winter, the cooking fires in homes would be extinguished.
The Druids, the Celtic priests, would meet in the hilltop in the
sacred oak forest. The Druids would light new fires and offer
sacrifices of crops and animals. As they danced around the
fires, the season of the sun passed and the season of darkness
would begin.

When morning arrived, the Druids would give an ember from their
fires to each family who would take them home to start new cooking
fires. These fires would keep the homes warm and free from evil
spirits.



The November 1st festival was called Samhain
(pronounced "sow-en") and last for three days. Many people
would parade in costumes made from the skins and heads
of their animals. This festival became the first Halloween.

The next influence came with the spread of the new Christian
religion throughout Europe and Britain. In the year 835 AD the
Roman Catholic Church would make November 1st a church
holiday to honor all the saints. This day was called All Saint's
Day, or Hallowmas, or All Hallows. Years later the Church would
make November 2nd a holy day. It was called All Souls Day and
was to honor the dead. It was celebrated with big bonfires, parades,
and people dressing up as saints, angels and devils.

But the spread of Christianity did not make people forget their
early customs. On the eve of All Hallows, Oct. 31, people continued
to celebrate the festivals of Samhain and Pomona Day. Over the
years the customs from all these holidays mixed. October 31st
became known as All Hallow Even, eventually All Hallow's
Eve, Hallowe'en, and then - Halloween.


_________________