Birmingham Ghosts and Hauntings UK: What the devil is Halloween?
Yes, it’s that scary time of year again. The shops are full of pumpkins and pointy hats. Little devils roam from door to door demanding money and sweets. If you don’t pay up, you may well find your front door decorated with eggs and flour (the little monsters). There is, of course, a lot more to Halloween than this recent import of American trick or treatery. Most cultures, the world over, seem to have developed a “Festival of the Dead” which is basically what Halloween is all about. The barrier between the physical world and the spiritual world is weakened and the dead are free to walk amongst the living. On October 31st, if you see somebody dressed as a ghoul or a vampire, they probably don’t realise it but they’re acting out an ancient tradition. They are mimicking the dead in order to protect themselves from the visiting spirits. Halloween, in Britain and north America, has its origins in Gaelic culture. Indeed, the reason why it is so popular in the US is because of the mass Irish
