Halloween is coming up. Christian fundamentalists in my country say that Halloween is based on the Celtic pagan day of the dead, Samhain. And they are correct. It's actually one of the cross-quarter days that Medieval European farmers used to know when the seasons began in Europe (along with Feb. 2, Aug. 1 and May 1st.) Halloween or Samhain is actually November 1st, or the feast of All Saints in the Catholic church. The festival is celebrated on the eve of All Saints' Day because a new day begins at sunset in many ancient cultures, including the Jewish and early Christian. Think of Christmas Eve. (Actually, even the Jewish calendar has some pagan influence. The Jewish feast Sukkot is celebrated between September and October, and probably has some pagan roots. And the Jewish feast of Passover, which Easter is supposedly based, is probably at least partly an old pagan holiday of Spring and rebirth.) November 1st is when winter began in the Celtic lands of Britain and France before they converted to Christianity. The next cross-quarter day in Candlemas or Ground Hogs Day, February 2nd. All cross-quarter days are moved to the first of the month. Ground Hogs Day is February 2nd because it is also the feast of purification of the Virgin Mary. Is is the feast of the purification, because according the Bible, that occurred exactly 40 days after a child was born. Christmas Day is exactly 40 days before Feb. 2nd. Look it up. May 1st is May Day, which is celebrated still in many places, including the US sometimes. August 1st is not anything important today. But it corresponds to the old British religious feast of Lammas, when the first fruits of the harvest were consecrated during mass. I asked on another message board if the British still celebrated it. A British man there said he never even heard of it. But it is still listed in old farmers' almanacs, possibly because it is still an important planting time.
