All Hallow’s Eve

E. Denise Billups, Author

For many, including myself, Halloween is a fun autumn holiday filled with trick-or-treating, costumes, candies, carving pumpkins, and ghoulish theme parties of wicked laughs and cheer. All Hallows Eve is a tradition brought to America by Irish emigrants during the 19th century. Given Halloween’s origins stemmed from pagan festival of Samhain when people worshiped Celtic deities around bonfires in costumes made from animal heads, the ceremony was harmless. Celts believed spirits of the dead returned to earth to wreak havoc and damage their crops. To appease Celtic Gods, they sacrificed animals and brought other offerings. As well as sacrifices, Druids (Celtic Priests) practiced divination (foretelling the future). They believed the presence of spirits on All Hallow’s Eve, made foretelling easier and would divine issues such as health, death, luck, and marriage.

All Hallow’s Eve, like many, is a tradition rooted in ancient pagan history—a means of an unsophisticated people to…

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