ALL HALLOWS EVE.

ALL HALLOWS EVE!

All Hallows is the night they say 

When souls return from far away,

When Winter chills begin to bite

And witches chant with all their might.

When ghostly apparitions tease

And spirits whisper in the trees,

When shadows of years rise unseen...

 Tonight it will be Halloween!!

Hallowe'en was originally an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of Summer and the harvest, and the beginning of the darkness of Winter.

It would seem to have been an important event in the medieval Irish calendar and was known as Samhain, marking the end of the Summer and a time of half light and half dark.

November 1st was the Celtic New Years Day, a day associated with darkness, death and dying.
They believed that the world of the living and the world of the dead were at their closest during the night before New Year, and that the spirits could pass between the two.

The ghosts of the dead could return to earth on this evening to cause mischief and mayhem, so people would light bonfires, feast on harvest fruits, dress up and sing to frighten off wandering spirits.

Much later the Catholic church designated November 1st as All Saints or All Hallows Day in an attempt to end the pagan festival of Samhain.

All Hallows Day was also a feast day nominated to honour any of  its saints and martyrs who did not have their own individual feast day.
The day before became known as All Souls Day, a day when Catholics would pray for their departed friends and family. And a day when, they believed, the souls of the dead were liberated temporarily from Purgatory and could return to their old homes.

The Vatican today continues to condemn Halloween as being anti-Christian.

The custom of Trick or Treating would appear to be a much more recent American tradition, possibly appearing around the 1920s. All Hallows Eve is now characterised by groups of frolicking excited children dressed as witches, ghosts etc. running amok in the darkness!

SO GET THOSE BROOMSTICKS OUT AND PARTY.

HAVE A WONDERFUL HALLOWEEN EVERYONE....MUAHAHAHAAAAAA!!