>>Halloween Stuff History of Halloween Everyone knows Halloween as the time of year for wearing costumes, attending costume parties, trick-or-treating, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, watching horror films, telling scary stories and visiting haunted houses and attractions. But this secular celebration did not begin as such. How did Halloween begin? It began as a Christian and Celtic tradition. The Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints is how Halloween began. Samhain is Old Irish and roughly translates to "summer's end". The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". It was believed by ancient Celts that a border between this world and the Otherworld became thin enough on Samhain to allow both harmless and harmful spirits to pass through. The family's ancestors were honored and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. The ancient Celts would wear costumes and masks that were believed to ward off the harmful spirits. The purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. This is how the modern-day tradition of wearing Halloween costumes stems from. Even in Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities while all other fires were doused. Each home would light their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. The name 'Halloween' and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era. The word Halloween is first mentioned in the 16th century and is a Scottish variation of the fuller All-Hallows-Eve meaning the night before All Hallows Day. The tradition of carving pumpkins into Jack-o'-lanterns came from traditional Celtic customs where large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows to ward off evil spirits. Pumpkins were used in North America as they were more readily available and much larger, making them easier to carve than turnips. It is assumed that the colors black and orange are associated with Halloween celebrations because of the darkness of night and the color of fire, autumn leaves and pumpkins. And because Halloween comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest, candy apples (also known as Caramel or Taffy apples) are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup and sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts. Shop for Halloween Costumes online. (FREE Shipping on orders over $100)