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Beliefs of the ancient Celts

No matter what you say, I think that Halloween is one of the greatest holidays ever. I heard more versions about the origin of a Halloween than fingers on both my hands and my toes. Some are no more than a myth. But this story that I found in archives of funeral home directory, seems to be closer to truth than others. So, here it is.

They told me that Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland. And that Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world.

According of the beliefs of the ancient Celts, October 31 is the last day of the bright half of the year. The next day also marked the beginning of winter, which the Celts often associated with death. The Celts believed that on October 31, the boundary separating the dead from the living. It needs to say, that Celts have a rich and unusual myth system. The spirit world, the residence of the dead, was accessible through burial mounds. These mounds were opened twice during the year, making the beginning and end of summer spiritually resonant.

Throughout the centuries, most Christians see Halloween as a harmless holiday in which some of the old traditions are celebrated by the mainstream culture, although in a different manner. They hold the view that the tradition is far from being “satanic” in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children. It is, in fact, a valuable life lesson about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors.