All Hallows Eve

All Hallows Eve - also known as Halloween - has evolved from a simple harvest festival to a mass marketed holiday. All Hallows Eve is taken from the harvest festival of Samhain which is rooted in Celtic polytheistic celebrations. It marked the end of the harvest cycle and the "dark" time of the year when celebrants would offer sacrifices of grain and meat as well as light large bonfires in some areas. Large turnips would be carved and masks would be worn to hide oneself from the spirits and avoid harm.

For Catholics, All Hallows Eve occurs the night before All Saints Day. Followers of the faith would keep a quiet vigil for the saints and the souls of the dead. Small cakes or apples would be given to beggars who went door to door begging for food in exchange for praying for the souls of the dead. When the holiday gained popularity in North America, pumpkins were carved instead of turnips as they were more readily available.

All Hallows Eve is currently celebrated on October 31 through November 1 though in its early origins was often celebrated over the course of several days or a full week. It is followed by the Catholic holidays of All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

In modern times, celebrators wear costumes - instead of simple masks - and carve pumpkins into Jack-o-Lanterns (instead of the older tradition of turnips). Children go door to door trick or treating to get candy from neighbors and friends. Costume parties and haunted houses are also a popular way to celebrate the holiday. Haunted houses take on the form of child-friendly slight scares to gory adult-centered horror houses.

Western countries celebrate this holiday as Halloween and it has become a large commercial industry instead of a day of observance though some people still observe its original intent. In other parts of the world the holiday may be marked with remembrance but it is not commonly celebrated, making it mainly a North American holiday in its present form of Halloween.

Western cultures celebrate Halloween with candy, costumes and parties while in other parts of the world such as Scotland it is celebrated with a more somber approach closer to its traditional roots. Often pagans celebrate All Hallows Eve as Samhain and may celebrate with either parties or a night of mourning or contemplation. For some Catholics, the night may be celebrated by quiet prayer for the souls of the dead in preparation for All Saints and All Souls Day.

Though it is called by many names, All Hallows Eve remains a popular holiday for many people whether they celebrate the Westernized candy-centric aspect or the more traditional night of honoring the dead. To some, All Hallows Eve is considered to be an evil day and efforts are made to remove it as a holiday or otherwise detract from the attention it receives, feeling it glorifies polytheistic beliefs and encourages paganism. This view is not always widespread as many prefer to focus on the more innocent aspects of it such as children enjoying costumes and candy while overlooking the more traditional sources of the day. In some areas, Roman Catholic schools may hold Halloween celebrations while other faiths such as Jehovah's Witnesses do not acknowledge the day at all, claiming that true Christians should not celebrate any day with pagan origins.