The origin of Halloween is typically linked
to the
Celtic festival of Samhain,
derived from the
Old Irish Samuin meaning
"summer's end". Samhain was
the first and the most important of the four quarter days in the medieval
Irish and Scottish calendar and, falling on the last day of autumn, it was a time
for stock-taking and preparation for the cold winter months ahead.
There was also a sense that this was the time
of year when the physical and supernatural worlds were closest and magical
things could happen. The souls of the dead were supposed to
revisit their homes on Samhain eve. To ward off these spirits, the
Gaels built huge,
symbolically regenerative
bonfires and
invoked the help of the gods through animal and perhaps even human sacrifice.
In the Western Isles of Scotland the Slaugh, or
fairy host was regarded as composed of the souls of the dead flying through the
air, and the feast of the dead at Hallowe'en was likewise the festival of the fairies.
