[image error] All Hallow's Eve - the evening before All Saint's (Hallow's) Day - Hallow E'en - Halloween.

Halloween began as a pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. According to the Celtic calendar, the year began on November 1 on our present calendar, signifying the end of harvest and the beginning of winter. Crops were harvested and stored and cattle and sheep had to be secured. It was the ending and beginning of a continuous cycle.

The festival, Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) was the biggest holiday of the Celtic year and was celebrated beginning at sunset of October 31. The Celts believed that on this night, spirits of the dead mingled with the living. Sacrifices were made of animals, fruits and vegetables. Bon fires were lit to honor the dead, to aid them on their journey and keep them away from the living.

Offerings of food and drink were left out to satisfy the souls of the dead. People began dressing in scary costumes performing antics in exchange for the offerings. And so, trick-or-treating evolved.

Turnips, pumpkins and gourds were carved with scary faces with a burning coal inside to ward off ghosts and goblins. One story relates: On route home after a night's drinking, Jack encounters the Devil who tricks him into climbing a tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, and so trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul. After a life of sin, drinking and lies, Jack is refused entry to heaven when he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night, so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out, since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to rest.

This year, I carved my Jack-o-lanterns with not so scary faces in honor of friends that have passed away this past year, and I know deep down, if they were still alive, Johnboy and Mohawk would protect me from the evil that lurks on this Halloween night.