Magical, Mystical Halloween If you are wondering about the origins of Halloween, you can find that there are many different stories and origins of how the holiday started. Some say that it is a day of Satan, or the worship of evil spirits and the practice of witchcraft which they believe is Druid religion. There are others who believe it was a day for the ghosts of the dead to come back and settle the scores on people who had done them wrong.

A few stories have been told about the spirits that had past away the year before this night and they were coming back in search of living bodies to possess in hopes of an afterlife. I have heard myself that Halloween was a European custom called All Souls Day, where early Christians would travel to villages collecting cakes and for every cake that they collected they would say a prayer for the patrons lost loved ones. They believed this would help the wondering souls enter into heaven.

There is the magic of the Jack-O-Lantern where the flame that sits inside is supposed to scare away the evil for it is afraid of being tricked. The ghost, goblins and witches that most people would associate with evil were actually thought of as the ones to scare the

Evil spirits away. They were believed to mingle with the people on the eve of the New Year while the people also wore masks and celebrated. When I think of a magical and mystical Halloween, I think of some ghosts and goblins, but I also think of fairies and pixies in a glen dancing, singing, and glowing in the moonlight! Spreading their wings in the fresh night air, afraid of nothing! Roaming in their land playing little tricks on anyone they come across. I think of the elves playing their music with flutes and drums in the middle of a glen.

The current Halloween that we now celebrate is a mix of ancient customs combine together through the years. The majority of people in the here and now do not associate the ancient beliefs with Halloween. We still think of ghosts and goblins and witches, but generally we do not associate Satan with Halloween. We are worried about what kind of costumes our children are going to choose and if we are going to buy them or make them.