Halloween is an observance celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most common in the United States, Puerto Rico, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part o ...

Including:

• Halloween - Symbols
• Halloween - Trick-or-treating and guising
• Halloween - Games and other activities
• Halloween - Foods
• Halloween - Cultural history
• Halloween - Christian festival
• Halloween - Halloween's Origin: Celtic observation of Samhain
• Halloween - Norse Elven Blót
• Halloween - Halloween customs
• Halloween - Punkie Night
• Halloween - Mischief Night
• Halloween - Religious viewpoints

Read more here: » Halloween: Encyclopedia - Halloween

Halloween

(Samhain) The term ÒHalloweenÓ originally referred to All Hallows' Eve, a Catholic observance of the night before All Saints' Day. However, in modern American it has reverted back to its original Pagan roots.

A Wiccan religious high or holy day (see Wicca) . Celebrated on October 31st, children are encouraged to wear costumes and solicit candy door-to-door (Trick-or-Treat).

(See also: Halloween, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Halloween

(Samhain) The term ÒHalloweenÓ originally referred to All Hallows' Eve, a Catholic observance of the night before All Saints' Day. However, in modern American it has reverted back to its original Pagan roots.

A Wiccan religious high or holy day (see Wicca) . Celebrated on October 31st, children are encouraged to wear costumes and solicit candy door-to-door (Trick-or-Treat).

(See also: Halloween, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Halloween is a celebration that has evolved from the combination of several different traditions.

 The roots of Halloween are unearthed in the rituals of Druids and Celtic priests of pre-Christian Ireland and Scotland. November 1 was the beginning of the new year, so Halloween, or "Samhain," (pronounced "sow'an") was like New Year's Eve. It was both a time of death and new beginnings, of harvest feasting and magic.

Read more here: » Halloween: The Gnarled Roots of Halloween

Samhain. All Hallows. All Hallow's Eve. Hallow E'en. Halloween. The most magical night of the year. Exactly opposite Beltane on the wheel of the year, Halloween is Beltane's dark twin. A night of glowing jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or treats, and dressing in costume. A night of ghost stories and seances, tarot card readings and scrying with mirrors. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is at its thinnest. A "spirit night," as they say in Wales.

Read more here: » Halloween: All Hallow's Eve

October 31 - November Eve - Samhain

Samhain means 'summer's end', for now nights lengthen, winter begins, and we work with the positive aspects of the dark tides. In the increasing starlight and moonlight, we hone our divinatory and psychic skills. Many Craft traditions, and the ancient Celts, consider this New Year's Eve. It is the one night when the veil that separates our world from the next is at its thinnest, allowing the dead to return to the world of the living, to be welcomed and feasted by their kin. The Christian religion adopted this theme as 'All Saints Day' or 'All Hallows Day' (Nov. 1), celebrating the eve as 'All Hallows Eve' or 'Halloween'. The alternative date of November 6 ('Martinmas' or 'Old Hallows') is sometimes employed by Covens.

Read more here: » Wiccan Holidays: October 31 - November Eve - Samhain

A Celebration of MAY DAY

There are four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic year and the modern Witch's calendar as well. The two greatest of these are Halloween (the beginning of winter) and May Day (the beginning of summer). Being opposite each other on the wheel of the year, they separate the year into halves. Halloween (also called Samhain) is the Celtic New Year and is generally considered the more important of the two, though May Day runs a close second. Indeed, in some areas -- notably Wales -- it is considered the great holiday.

Read more here: » May Day: A Celebration of MAY DAY

Halloween - Christian festival. Pope Boniface IV established an anniversary dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the martyrs when he consecrated the Pantheon on May 13, 609 (or 610). This Christian feast day was moved to November 1st from May 13th by Pope Gregory III in the eighth century in order to mark the dedication of the All Saints Chapel in Rome--establishing November 1st as All Saints Day and October 31st as All Hallows' Eve. Initially this change of date only applied to the diocese of Rome, but was extended to the rest of Christendom a century later by Pope Gregory IV i ...

See also:

Halloween, Halloween - Symbols, Halloween - Trick-or-treating and guising, Halloween - Games and other activities, Halloween - Foods, Halloween - Cultural history, Halloween - Christian festival, Halloween - Halloween's Origin: Celtic observation of Samhain, Halloween - Norse Elven Blót, Halloween - Halloween customs, Halloween - Punkie Night, Halloween - Mischief Night, Halloween - Religious viewpoints

Read more here: » Halloween: Encyclopedia II - Halloween - Cultural history

For information on the band, see Samhain (band). Samhain (IPA: /ˈsawənʲ/) is the word for November in Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The same word was used for the first month of the ancient Celtic calendar, and in particular the first three nights of this month, the festival marking the beginning of the winter season. Elements of the festival are continued in the traditions of All Souls Day and Halloween. The name is also used for one of the ...

Including:

• Samhain - Etymology
• Samhain - Ancient Celts
• Samhain - Celtic folklore
• Samhain - Neo-Paganism
• Samhain - Pop culture references

Read more here: » Samhain: Encyclopedia - Samhain

The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once (a political shift as much as a spontaneous mass shift in individual consciences), also includes the practice of converting pagan cult practices, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses. In Antiquity, Christianization was effected only partly through laws against sacrifice and sorcery and official conversions of temples to Christian churches. It was effected also by the degradation of pagan gods into d ...

Including:

• Christianization - Christianized populations
• Christianization - Christianized sites
• Christianization - The Christianized landscape
• Christianization - The Christianized calendar
• Christianization - Christianizing the Lemuria
• Christianization - Cultural history of Halloween
• Christianization - Christianizing the Saturnalia
• Christianization - Suppressing Yule
• Christianization - External link

Read more here: » Christianization: Encyclopedia - Christianization

The festival of All Saints, also sometimes known as "All Hallows," or "Hallowmas," is a feast celebrated in their honour. All Saints is also a Christian formula invoking all the faithful saints and martyrs, known or unknown. Common commemorations by several churches of the deaths of martyrs began to be celebrated in the 4th century. The first trace of a general celebration is attested in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. This custom is also referred to in the 74th homily of John Chrysostom (407) and is maintained t ...

Including:

• All Saints - Compare
• All Saints - Reference

Read more here: » All Saints: Encyclopedia - All Saints

All Souls' Day (Commemoratio omnium fidelium defunctorum), also called Defuncts' Day in Mexico and Belgium, is the day set apart in the Roman Catholic Church for the commemoration of the faithful departed. The celebration is based on the doctrine that the souls of the faithful which at death have not been cleansed from venial sins, or have not atoned for past transgressions, cannot attain the beatific vision, and that they may be helped ...

Including:

• All Souls Day - Christian origin
• All Souls Day - Protestantism
• All Souls Day - Pagan roots

Read more here: » All Souls Day: Encyclopedia - All Souls Day

Trick-or-treating, also known as Guising, is an activity for children on Halloween in which they proceed from house to house, asking for treats such as candy with the question, "Trick or treat?" Trick-or-treating is done in costume and is one of the main traditions of Halloween. It has become socially required if one lives in a neighborhood with children to purchase candy in preparation for trick-or-treaters. The activity is popular in the United States, Ireland and Canada, and due to culture importation in recent years has started to occur (though with considerably less enthusiasm than in the U ...

Including:

• Trick-or-treat - History
• Trick-or-treat - Trick-or-treating Around the World

Read more here: » Trick-or-treat: Encyclopedia - Trick-or-treat

Events September 15 - Boniface IV becomes pope. Eochaid succeeds Aidan mac Gabhráin as king of Dalriada. First recorded observation of Halloween in the Catholic church. Khosrau II of Persia attacks Chalcedon. Possible date of the writing of Beowulf. Prince Shotoku of Japan appoints Ono no Imoko as official envoy to Sui for a second time and sends him to pay tribute to the Sui court. Births Deaths

Read more here: » 608: Encyclopedia - 608

A costume party (chiefly the US English term) or a fancy dress party (the more common British or Commonwealth English term), mainly in contemporary Western culture is a type of party where guests dress up in a costume. These are especially popular in the United States around Halloween, when teenagers and adults who may be considered too old for trick-or-treating attend a costume party instead. Such parties are also popula

Read more here: » Costume party: Encyclopedia - Costume party

Hallucination Commonly, perception of objects without reality or an experience of sensations without external cause, usually thought to arise from a disorder of the nervous system. However, hallucination means something different to an occultist.

"A state produced sometimes by physiological disorders, sometimes by mediumship, and at others by drunkenness. But the cause that produces the visions has to be sought deeper than physiology. All such visions, especially when produced through mediumship, are preceded by a relaxation of the nervous system, invariably generating an abnormal magnetic condition which attracts to the sufferer waves of astral light. It is the latter that furnishes the various hallucinations. These, however, are not always what physicians would make them, empty and unreal dreams. No one can see that which does not exist -- i.e., which is not impressed -- in or on the astral waves.

A Seer may, however, perceive objects and scenes (whether past, present, or future) which have no relation whatever to himself, and also perceive several things entirely disconnected with each other at one and the same time, thus producing the most grotesque and absurd combinations. Both drunkard and Seer, medium and Adept, see their respective visions in the Astral Light; but while the drunkard, the madman, and the untrained medium, or one suffering from brain-fever, see, because they cannot help it, and evoke the jumbled visions unconsciously to themselves, the Adept and the trained Seer have the choice and the control of such visions.

They know where to fix their gaze, how to steady the scenes they want to observe, and how to see beyond the upper outward layers of the Astral Light. With the former such glimpses into the waves are hallucinations: with the latter they become the faithful reproduction of what actually has been, is, or will be, taking place. The glimpses at random caught by the medium, and his flickering visions in the deceptive light, are transformed under the guiding will of the Adept and Seer into steady pictures, the truthful representations of that which he wills to come within the focus of his perception" (TG 133-4).

(See also: Halloween, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Halloween: October 31. Also called Samhain by the Wiccan and Pagan communities. This holiday is widely celebrated by people of all faiths with costume parties and trick-or-treating. But this night also marks the Wiccan new year. In the wheel of the year, Samhain is the night when the God dies and leaves the Goddess alone until Yule, when he is born again. Halloween/Samhain is a time when the doors between the worlds are said to open, stirring up much ghostly and otherworldly activity.

(See also: Halloween, Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

HALLOWEEN - also known as Samhain is the one of the Four Great Sabbats. Halloween is the festival of the dead, where a door is opened on to another life. (ABC)

(See also: HALLOWEEN, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Halloween. See ALL SAINTS' DAY

(See also: Halloween, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Halloween

(Samhain) The term “Halloween” originally referred to All Hallows' Eve, a Catholic observance of the night before All Saints' Day. However, in modern American it has reverted back to its original Pagan roots.

A Wiccan religious high or holy day (see Wicca) . Celebrated on October 31st, children are encouraged to wear costumes and solicit candy door-to-door (Trick-or-Treat).

(See also: Halloween, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)