HALLOWEEN

Halloween has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. Largely though it is secular. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America during Ireland's Great Famine of 1846. The day is often associated with the colours of orange and black and is strongly associated with symbols such as the jack-o-lantern.

The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season. Traditionally the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. It was believed October 31st was the boundary between the living and the dead where the dead became dangerous for the living causing problems such as sickness and damaged crops.


Halloween is a big celebration in Canada and the USA, unlike Australia. Both St Mike's and St Mary's celebrated by dressing up in various costumes. The students I teach warned me about Devil's Thursday which is the night before Halloween when kids go out and cause mischief. They seem extremely inventive although we were not targeted at all.

Above is one of the homes on Mill St, Woodstock, whose owners take great pride in decorating their house. These decorations were up for quite a while and then before we knew it they had replaced them with Christmas theme decorations which were just as good.