Have you ever been curious about the origin of the modern holiday Halloween? If so this is the post for you. I'll be quoting from History.com. "Halloween, celebrated each year on October 31, is a mix of ancient Celtic practices, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that blended over time to create the holiday we know today. Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, and life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. Halloween has long been thought of as a day when dead can return to earth, and ancient Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off these roaming ghosts. The Celtic holiday of Samhain, the Catholic Hallowmas period of All Saints' Day and All Souls Day and the Roman festival of Feralia all influenced the modern holiday of Halloween. In the 19th centry, Halloween began to lose its religious connotation, becoming a more secular community-based children's holiday. Although the superstitions and beliefs surrounding Halloween may have evolved over the years, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people can still look forward to parades, costumes and sweet treats to usher in the winter season." History.com..... It's refreshing to have thrown off the blasphemous superstition that plagued the Church and the Culture for so many centuries and to celebrate the breaking forth of the Reformation instead! Can anyone say "pass me another dark ale?"