So It’s Halloween

Originally Halloween was Irish pagan holiday called Samhain, and celebrated by the Celts. All Hallows Eve has since been co-opted to death, but yet, like most commercially twisted holidays still manages to maintain some of its pagan/religious roots. Myself, I had the craziest cult dreams last night and slept through my alarm as they chanted ong-kee and worshipped idols of fire, eyes flickeringly fixated ahead.

The Celts believed that it was quite common for people to exist on after death, but in a different plane of existence. Perhaps as faeries or ghosts. As Samhain was their new year, it was also believed to be the best time to communicate with the faeries and dead. The outcome was a great deal of mischief as the faeries tried to trick humans into being trapped in their world forever, and as humans ran amok playing practical jokes and getting the chaos out of their system before winter. This tradition continues with our modern celebrations.

It is interesting how pervasive a belief system can be. The modernization and commercialization of Halloween keeps our deepest-rooted pagan beliefs alive, and opens the door to an acceptance of spirituality, and the eternity of the soul. The sexiness of the concept keeps it alive, and while the true pagans continue to celebrate in the shadows, the seed of their beliefs are spread, albeit subtly, through mass production and consumerism.