What is Halloween? Halloween is an annual American holiday celebrated each year on October 31 st (my husband’s birthday!). But it is more Irish than Saint Patrick’s Day as most of its origins come from Ireland and the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts and spirits. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1 st , the day that marked the end of summer and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. This time of year was often associated with human death. The night before the new year it was believed that the worlds of the living and the dead could be crossed and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Celtic priests, known as Druids, would build huge sacred bonfires where people would gather to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities in order to predict the future of the town; would it survive the long hard winter? During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically animal ...