All Hallows Eve/Halloween
Celebrations on the date we now know as Halloween have existed for around 6,000 years. Halloween as we now understand it started a Celtic festival, particularly a Gaelic festival, and they believed that the dead would visit them. To help the dead, they left food and drink outside their homes for them just after the harvest festivals.
Over the years (and even today) Halloween has been known by many names. Some call it All Saints Eve, whereas some people, particularly Wiccans, call it Samhain. There’s no doubt a few more names that I have not heard of.
It is thought that it is the one night of the year where the veil between the two dimensions (the dimension of the living and the dead) thins even further and those that have transitioned over from one dimension to the other find it easier to return.
History books show it was adopted by the Christian religion and renamed thereafter as Halloween. The Christian religion takes the ritual over three days. The Romans occupying Britain adopted many of the Celtic/Pagan festivals in the UK and made them their own. It is thought it helped them in their occupation of the countries they went into.
These days, across the world it is still, all these thousands of years on, celebrated. Practices vary from leaving food for the dead to kids trick or treating, which in itself bears some tradition to souling and guising from centuries ago.
This year it will be different for many across the world due to the pandemic, but however you are celebrating All Hallows Eve, please spare a thought for all those loved ones of ours on the other side of life and maybe, just maybe, you will find a sign or a message from them!