First Let me say that the following is re-written in my own words but I got the information from Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Holiday Traditons, Customs and Origions book and Wikapedia and some other internet sites. Some of this may not be accurate necessarily and it is NOT intended to offend or downgrade anyone and their personal beliefs. It is just informative. I had intended to publish this On Halloween but for some reason my account was blocked and Nick checked into it and unblocked me. He does Not know how or why it was blocked so the article is a few days late.

The name of Halloween was shortened from All-hallow-even because it is the eve of All Hallows Day and is now known as All Saints Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions and customs.

Over the decades of immigrants from all nations coming to the United States brought with them occult practices idol worship. Some have over the years have found their way into Halloween festivites and customs.

The Celtic people wanted to appease the evil spirits: ghosts, goblins, and demons. They would build gigantic "Samhain" bonfires to light the way for the spirits so they find their way into the land of the living,. They left out food items in hopes that this would please the spirit world.

It was believed if they did not leave a thing for the spirits to eat, the spirits would play evil tricks on the people of that household. The Druid priests required human sacrifices and would go door to door seeking the the virgin daughters for first sexual rites before murdering the young woman and often they would take young children as well.

If the parents refused or hid their daughter or child of the chosen homes, the priests woud paint a hexagram on the door in blood to show evil spirits so that they would cause all sorts of evil to fall on the home. In some instances even death occured to the household.

The Romans would honor the dead with a festival called Feralia in late autumn usually October or early Novenber. The festival was mostly to honor Pomona, their goddess of the fruit trees who is often pictured wearing a crown of apples.

The entire holiday of Halloween is steeped in paganism. It is a celebration of death and everything that is evil.

During the festival, young men ran races and played games to honor the "Apple Queen" Often a young virgin was chosen to represent the queen and goddess Pomona and later she was sexually raped by the priests and then killed her blood captured and used in rites of appeasement for later harvests to come.

Girls of marriageable age used omens such as apple parings thrown over the shoulder and looked to see what inital would fall telling them of the man they might marry. When the Rome conquered the Celts, they combined Samhain customs with their own harvest festival. Bobbing for apples was derived from the combined pagan festival.

In many nations especially among the Irish and Welsh it was believed all cats are spiritual animals and of all the animals, the cat can sense the presence of spirits, both good and bad. (Some of you might recall a t.v commercial in the past year of a man who seems to be a ghost of himself and as he finally gets home is cat appears to be upset by his ghostly apperance until he takes the cold medicine making him human again. That is where the idea for the commercial came from).

Witches and Satanists regard the black cat with great significance. Believing that they have special powers, the black cat represents incarnated humans evil spirits, or the "familiars" of witches.

This is why that many black cats are in danger around Halloween and may be found dead or missing. If you have a black cat, do not let them roam the streets at night especially in the weeks before Halloween, keep them inside. Many local pounds won't let anyone adopt a black cat around Halloween time, in fear of the cat might be harmed.

Druids in times past would build great bonfires on top of hillsides that could be seen for miles around, The Druid priests would sacrifice animals and infants, toddlers and virgin girls alive into the burning flames. The word "Bonfire", was derived from the skeletons of those who died in those fires. Orange, red and yellow flames lit up the black night, giving the official colors behind Halloween. As heathen worshipers danced and jumped around the fires, they wore disguises of animal-head masks and animal-skins. The head of each household was given live embers from the bonfires to start a new fire on his hearth which would last until the next autumn. It was believed this fire would protect their homes from danger throughout the year.

Today on Halloween adults and children dress up as creatures from the underworld such as ghosts, ghouls, zombies, witches and goblins and in some nations such as Ireland they light bonfires, and enjoy firework displays, though often such displays are now illegal.

Halloween is seen as the night of which the division between the world of the living and the netherworld is blurred so spirits of the dead are able to walk free on the earth. It was believed necessary to dress as a spirit or otherworldly creature when going outdoors in order to blend in, and this is where part of dressing up in such a manner for Halloween comes from.

In Scotland, Wales and Ireland this evolved into trick-or-treating children would knock on neighbours' doors, in order to gather fruit, nuts, and sweets for the Halloween festival. If a treat was not given then the children often youth would let loose the cattle or paint the doors or cut off horses tails and other tricks to retaliate for the stinginess of a particular household. Salt was sprinkled in the hair of the children to protect against evil spirits.

The porches and windows of homes were adorned with turnips and gourds carved into scary faces; candles were placed inside the carvings to provide an eerie effect. In America pumpkins were found to be easier to use and thus derived the Jack O Lantern of today. The Jack o Lantern can be traced back to an Irish legend about an old farmer known as "Stingy Jack" he was considered by his neighbors to be a greedy, gambling, hard drinking old man who tricked the devil into climbing a tree, and then trapped him by carving a cross into the trunk of the tree. In retaliation, the devil put a curse on Jack and doomed him to wander the earth at night forever. Irish parents told this bedtime tale for centuries to their children.

Games are played at parties, such as bobbing for apples. Nuts, fruit and small coins are placed in a basin of water. The apples and nuts float, but the coins sink so are harder to catch. Everyone takes turns catching as many items possible using only their mouths. In some households, the coins are embedded in the fruit for the children to "earn" as they catch each apple. Another game is the hands-free eating of an apple hung on a string attached to the ceiling.

Ghost stories are told and games of hide and seek are often played at night which is where some of our modern day games like "Kick the can" derived from. Often young lovers would use this an opportunity to slip away in romantic embraces.

Some people today do not observe Halloween because of it's very pagan origins. While others give to charities and more and more parents are opting to have children go to carnivals or house parties rather than have the children trick or treat. Often when children are taken or allowed to go trick or treating parents take them to homes of friends and family they know will not harm them.

My family personally does not observe Halloween we consider it a pagan custom surrounding an evil time of year and Satanic and know that many things go into the make up of this holiday from many countries and some nations today still do not observe Halloween.

Our family usually has a fall party with autumn decorations and good foods. Often our church has game night on Halloween and has finger foods. We did use to give candy to the kids when we lived in town even though we personally do not observe the holiday and our own children did not trick or treat. The children coming to our door did not know that and there is no reason to be cruel to children.

There is nothing wrong with dressing up in costumes and having a fun time any time of the year either.