| In the mad frenzy of dressing up, decorating the | | | | people got together in houses for long winter |
| house, throwing a party, the reason why do we | | | | nights of handicrafts and telling of stories. These |
| celebrate Halloween has somehow got pushed to | | | | dark, winter months were associated with death |
| the background. Costumes and candy, tricks and | | | | by the Celts. On October 31st, Samhain was |
| treats, terrifying decorations take up all our | | | | celebrated by the Celts and they believed that |
| energy and perhaps, most of us do not even | | | | this was the day when the ghosts of the dead |
| know what Halloween actually signifies. | | | | returned to earth. This happened because of the |
| Halloween goes back nearly 2000 years when it | | | | blurring of the boundaries between the living world |
| first began to be celebrated by the Celts who had | | | | and the deceased. |
| their homes in Ireland, UK and the northern parts | | | | The 'trick or treat' probably originated in the |
| of France. The Celts celebrated their New Year | | | | English All Souls' Day parades when the poor |
| on the first of November and the origins of | | | | would plead for food from the wealthier people. |
| Halloween go back to this time in the Celtic | | | | The wealthy families gave them pastries called |
| festival of Samhain. Samhain was celebrated the | | | | 'soul cakes' and asked the poor to pray for their |
| night before the New Year. | | | | relatives who were no longer living. This morphed |
| The Celts believed that the New Year marked | | | | into people giving candies to children who came to |
| the end of the summer. The end of summer was | | | | their house dressed up as witches or ghosts and |
| significant to the Celts because they were | | | | if someone refused to give candy (treat), a |
| pastoral people as opposed to agricultural people; | | | | practical joke (trick) would probably be played |
| and the end of summer meant a radically | | | | upon him. Another theory is of people leaving |
| different style of life in the winter months. | | | | food outside their homes so that the wandering |
| Cattle were brought down from the hills and | | | | ghosts would not enter their homes. |