Where did the holiday of Halloween originate?
Halloween actually has Celtic origins. The Celts were an ancient people who lived around 2000 years ago in the countries we now call the UK, Ireland and northern France. The Celtic New Year was 1st November, which signified the start of the winter and the end of the summer. The night before, 31st October, was the Celtic festival of the dead, called Samhain, when it was believed ghosts and spirits of the dead came back to earth and helped the Druids (the Celtic priests) make their prophecies for the future. This is where the date of Halloween being celebrated on 31st October comes from. To celebrate Samhain, the Celtic people dressed up in costumes, to disguise themselves from malevolent beings from the underworld, and burned sacrificial crops and animals on special bonfires lit by the Druids, in attempts to ward off evil spirits. Afterwards, they used the flames from the bonfires to light the fires in their homes.
