The Origins of Halloween

The origins of Halloween go back very far, to the ancient Celts. The Celts lived in the British Isles during ancient times. They were pagans. They believed in the gods of nature.There were two important festivals on the Celtic calendar. One was called Beltane and it marked the beginning of the summer. The other was called Samhain. It marked the end of the summer on October the 31^st. Samhain was also the last day of the year on the Celtic calendar...

Samhain was the Celtic god of death. The Celts were afraid of winter because they associated it with death and evil spirits. They believed that on the night of October the 31^st ghosts came out of their tombs and the spirits of the dead returned to earth. The Celtic people made big fires and dressed in scary customs -such as: witches, ghosts and skeletons-, to frighten the spirits of evil and death. They also played games to bring good luck to the new year.

That night was also very important because the Druids predicted the future. The Druids were the Celtic priests and teachers. They were very important in the society. They practised the magic and religious rituals. Everybody respected them.

After the Roman invasion in 43 A.D. Christian rites substituted pagan rites. The Romans had a harvest festival called Pomona. Pomona was the Roman goddess of gardens and orchards. That’s why the colours of Halloween are orange and black. Orange represents the harvest and black represents death.

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