Well, Halloween, which means "holy or hallowed evening," comes on October 31. Halloween was so named because it was the day before All Hallows or All Saints' Day, on November 1. In a rough translation from the ancient Celtic Halloween means "None of these things are going to be saints, not now, not never."

The Celts, who occupied northern and western Europe, had Druidism as their religion. These priests noted two important feasts - Beltane on May 1, and the autumn festival Samhain on the last day of October. Samhain came after the harvest had been gathered. This holiday meant the end of summer and the beginning of winter. Their New Year began on November 1 and our Halloween was their New Year's Eve.

Druid priests were nature worshipers, and performed mystic ceremonies to the great sun god at such places as a circle near Chartres, France, and at Stonehenge. Today as you visit the latter, you see great stone pillars placed in a circle around which the white-garbed priests are said to have marched.

A supernatural element was part of the autumn festival, for the Druids tried to placate the Lord of Death. It was believed that he allowed the spirits of those who had died during the past twelve months to spend a few hours at their homes at this time. There they could warm themselves at the blazing hearth and enjoy the smell of food cooking on spits in the fireplace.

One of the important rites in connection with the ancient observance of Halloween was the lighting of great bonfires on hilltops to honor the sun god and to frighten away evil spirits who had been released on that special night. For several days beforehand young boys went around begging material for the fires. (They probably went up to front doors asking stick or peat. You can see what that evolved into.)

Then after the heaps were aflame, people danced and sang around them, often pretending they were being pursued by evil spirits. As many jumped over the flames or dashed through them, their grotesque masks added to the fantastic scene.

This was the time, too, when it was believed that witches rode through the skies on their broomsticks; for the idea that there were women who had sold themselves to the Devil was prevalent among the Druids as it had been among early Egyptians and Romans. On Halloween, these witches were said to dance on the hilltops with goblins and imps, while the Devil himself played the bagpipes or castanets made from dead men's bones.

This was the night of the full yellow moon, when black cats, bats, elves, and fairies were abroad. Frustrated ghosts were supposed to play tricks on human beings and to cause supernatural happenings. Farmers fastened bells that had been blessed on their cows. They also placed crossed branches of ash and juniper at stable doors to keep witches from harming the animals.

As the people celebrated that night around the massive bonfires, they talked of mysterious sights or weird sounds they had encountered. No doubt, the forerunner of our custom of relating ghost stories on Halloween.

It would seem apparent from these ancient chronicles that either life was pretty dull most of the year in northern Europe, or the Druids brewed a fairly mean mushroom wine.

In Ireland, "new fires" were kindled on this occasion. Each householder put out the fire on his hearth, and gathered with others at a certain place. Then the Druid priests rubbed together pieces of sacred oak and started a blaze on the altar. Each head of a family then carried home a new fire, which was to last until the next autumn festival. On Halloween, the farmers often set forkfuls of hay afire and waved them in the air to frighten the witches. This custom is said to have continued in the British Isles until the eighteenth century. It would also account for the male baldness prevalent during this period.

Our modern Halloween also has some elements that originated in the ancient Roman feast honoring Pomona, goddess of fruits. After the Romans had conquered Britain, some of their customs were added to those of the Druids. Since the Roman festival also occurred after harvest, today at Halloween parties we feature fruit centerpieces, apples, and nuts. For contests, apples are hung on strings or placed in tubs of water, cider was the popular drink of the day and the nuts used are symbolic of food stored for winter.

With early tribes, Halloween was a time for divination or fortune telling, for they were eager to learn what might happen to them in the next year. The priests cut an animal open and from the entrails foretold the future, or some used the peculiar shapes of vegetables for this purpose. A young person often peeled an apple, threw the peeling over his shoulder, and from its shape told the initial of a sweetheart. The blowing of candles and opening and closing of doors, too, were means of divination. And there was a belief that if anyone ate a crust of bread before going to sleep, any wish that he made would come true. They sure don't make bread like that anymore.

Girls tried to discover who their husbands would be in this fashion: a maiden carried a candle along a dark hall, or down a stairway, and hoped to see the face of her future mate in the mirror held in her other hand. At times, a young man was blindfolded and allowed to choose one of three bowls. If he selected the empty one, he would be a bachelor; if the bowl contained muddy water, he would marry a widow, while the one with clear water signified that a young girl would be his bride.

So today when children wear ghost costumes, false faces, or witches' hats, make soap crosses on cars or windows, carry pumpkin lanterns, and use black cats, bats, witches, corn candies, etc., as decorations at their Halloween parties, they are following some very ancient customs.

So lets here it for the Druids. Go put on some funny clothes and mask, go build a fire in your front yard and leap through it, wave burning chunks of hay in the air. Then the police will come and you'll get to spend the night with some really scary people. Better yet, dress up as an IRS auditor and scare the willies out of your neighbors.