The roots of Halloween dig deep into time, passing through multiple nations and cultures, but where is Halloween’s birth place? The pagan celebration was originally called Samhain by the Celts. On this day, it was believed that the walls separating the realms of the living and spirit realm would be lifted, allowing spirits to enter the realm of the living. 

In order to protect themselves from the harmful spirits, Celts put on costumes that resembled monsters and beasts in an attempt to confuse the evil spirits into thinking that they were one of them. Once their disguise was on they  created huge bonfires to perform cleaning rituals, protecting themselves from the evil spirits that would enter the mortal plane during Samhain. 

But that’s not all the bonfires meant, they were also welcoming to good spirits, greeting them to the mortal plane and honoring them at the same time. These good spirits would also be offered fruits, vegetables, and even animals. 

Nowadays Samhain is known as Halloween, the day you get to dress up as ghosts and ghouls and get free candy from strangers. Some parts of the world still celebrate like the Celts, for example, Day of the Dead. During this day you’d leave out food as offerings to ancestors, like how the Celts offered animals, vegetables, and fruits to good spirits.

At the end of the day, Samhain has been taken and twisted into many forms. This October, 31st most of Abington will be celebrating Halloween by dressing up as monsters and going to parties, going trick-or-treating, and some of us will be staying home to watch horror movies. No matter how you spend it there is one rule you must follow: never anger the dead.