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Ah, Halloween. Of course my favorie holiday, and probably yours too. Why not; it's the only time of year that you can be over the age of ten and still get away with playing dress-up. All the Witchyness you see before you on this site has Halloween to thank for its conception.

I was first aware of the concept of Halloween at the tender age of four. Our backyard adjoined that of a large, looming, dilapidated Victorian mansion that had windows like eyes which looked out from another time. This effect was heightened by the fact that said Victorian was set on the top of a bare hill and I could see it watching me from my bedroom.

Oh yes, the house watched me.

Anyway, I suddenly became aware that autumn-time was different when I was four. There was a crisp crackle in the air, and I could smell woodsmoke even though we lived in dense suburbia. And for some reason, I began to be able to feel the presence of that house very strongly, even when I was not looking at it... even when I was not near it. Quite a thrill for a four-year-old, realizing that you are in touch with The Unseen. (Cut to the middle of "The Sixth Sense", cue the line from the spooky kid: "...i see dead people.")

And then, of course, I discovered the added bonus of that whole dress-up-and-get-candy thing; followed in later years by the toilet-paper-the-neighborhood thing, and then the teenage drink-till-you-think-you-see-ghosts thing. The bug bit really bad after we moved to the Salem area, when I was just a munchkin. It's hard not to be Halloweenish living in the Witch City, particularly when one is followed around by non-corporeal beings dressed in period costumes. But more about that on the Supernatural page.

This is about Halloween, the fun part.

A brief synopsis of why we celebrate Halloween in the first place:

^..^ It is an ancient European (mostly Celtic) Pagan harvest holiday, the last harvest of the year, i.e. the time of death and the coming of winter. In other words, a good excuse to get drunk.

^..^ Because of that whole death/drunkenness thing, Halloween (a shortened, corrupted version of "All Hallow's Eve") was about being visited by spirits. Spirits in the bottle, and spirits from beyond. One was believed to induce the other, for obvious reasons. There was also usually a bonfire of some sort involved, whose flickering light contributed to the seeing of visions. Trust me, if you stare into a fire for long enough, you WILL see things.

^..^ Most of Europe was purged of this practice by the Medieval Church, who turned the pagan-revels concept into a holy day called All Saint's or All Hallow's. Good PR tactic, getting the heathen to go to Mass on their own holidays.

^..^ This didn't completely work on the Irish, however (most things don't; you can't tell those stubborn people anything). They continued to celebrate Halloween the old way, albeit undergroud and in the dark of night, while still observing the Church. Sneaky, but good for us fruit bats, because Halloween was saved!

^..^ Transport millions of Irish to America between 1820 and 1920, ancient customs intact, and integrate their folklore into American culture.

^..^ Invent K-Mart.

^..^ The rest is history.