"When the footpads quail
at the nightbird's wail,
and black dogs howl at the moon,
then is the spectres' holiday--
then is the ghosts' high noon!"

----William Gilbert

October 31st we observe a holiday celebration that is one of the oldest festivals known to man: Halloween, the feast of All Hallows, also called Hallomas or Hallow-Even and more recently (in the last 1300 years or so), the Eve of All Saints.

All Saints Day is a church festival celebrated on November 1st in honor of all saints, known and unknown. It originated in the 7th century when the Pantheon at Rome was consecrated as the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and All Martyrs. This festival was finally authorized by Pope Gregory IV in the year 835. The choice of the day for this Christian festival was no doubt determined by the fact that the eve of November 1st was one of the great festivals of all 'heathen' peoples in the north, and it had long been a policy of the church to supplant heathen festivals with Christian observances.

October 31st was a festival in England, celebrated by the followers of the early Prytanic religion, even before the Druid's solar festivals were observed. Midnight on October 31st marks the first quarter of the solar-tide cycle--which is the tide of destruction, with winter being initiated as it begins to seek its icy fingers into the soil of the earth. Halloween is also the feast of the dead, not to mention the first day of the witches' year, so it is little wonder that this festival was changed to a celebration of saints by the Christian church.

It was long thought that witches, ghosts and all manner of spirits would be out and about on Halloween and it was a common practice in Europe for families to place food and sweet treats on the doorsteps of homes that night, in hopes that the spirits and other evil creatures would be appeased by their offerings and pass their homes by. Originally, people feared that the spirits might actually cause physical harm to a family if they were not 'bought off', so to speak, with some sort of treat (and since the food was always gone the next morning and no one in the family had been accosted by a wayward spirit during the night, people really came to believe that giving treats to the spirits worked to protect them from harm). Later on, as Halloween 'progressed' from a celebration of the dead to a more commercial and more relaxed holiday, families that refused to put out an offering for the spirits were frequently besieged by pranks, or tricks were played against them or their homes, likely as not perpetrated by their neighbors (or those miserable little brats from down the block), who enjoyed going from house to house and eating up all of the sweets that were left out that night.

But, for many years now, the true meaning of Halloween has been lost to most people. With assistance from the church and not a little aid from candy makers the world over, Halloween has been turned into a celebration of commercialism and of fun, rather than a night of fear, as it once was. And yet, we still make offerings at our doorstep to the witches, ghosts and goblins that come and threaten us with a "Trick or Treat!", if they are not properly appeased.