all hallow's eve

well it's that time of year again, kiddies! what time of year would that be, you ask? well just the most wonderful time of the year!!

OCTOBER!!

and what holiday comes on the last day of this month??? that's right...HALLOWEEN!! halloween has always been my absolute favorite day of the year. hands down! so being that we're into october now, i thought i'd dedicate every blog entry for this month to everyone's favorite nocturnal october celebration!

shall we begin with a little bit of history? Behind the name... Halloween, or the Hallow E'en as they call it in Ireland , means All Hallows Eve, or the night before the 'All Hallows', or 'All Saints', or 'All Souls' Day, observed on November 1.

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

well, i hope i didn't bore you with that lil' history lesson. but a true halloween fan probably found that at least a tad bit interesting. hopefully...