The 31st October is
approaching. It is less than a week away. This day is celebrated as
“Halloween” and is also known as All Hallows' Eve, or All
Saints' Eve. This is because it is the day before the Western
Christian feast of All Hallows' Day.

Halloween has spurned many, many books
and nearly as many movies.

We have published already one article
on spooky destinations to visit and we have another one on our
website today.

America is especially obsessed with
Halloween.

Because it is closely related to a
Christian festival, as explained above, Halloween draws from both
Celtic and Christian traditions.

Halloween is the spookiest night of the
year.

It's also a boon to the retail
industry. In the US, spending on costumes and candy gets bigger every
year.

Historians have linked Halloween to
Samhain, the Celtic festival of the summer's end celebrated in
Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.

According to Celtic mythology, the veil
between the Otherworld and our world thins during Samhain, making it
easier for spirits and the souls of the dead to return.

People would make offerings of food in
order to get on the good side of these spirits and departed
ancestors,

As apples are connected to the
Otherworld they make a big appearance at Halloween. Bobbing or
dunking for apples remains a popular party game. On the 31st
October people would dunk their heads in a vat of water and try to
bite into floating fruit in a quest to figure out their future
spouse.

Ladies would mark an apple and toss it
into the tub. The thinking was they'd be destined to whoever pulled
it out of the water.

It might seem fun to intricately design
pumpkins and place them over a lighted candle and turn them into
Jack-o-lanterns but they have a sinister past. They symbolize a
fateful deal with the Devil. It all goes back to many, many years ago
in Ireland. The legend has it that one night, a conniving local
drunkard named Jack trapped the Devil in a tree by hacking a sign of
the cross into the bark. In exchange for letting Satan climb down,
Jack had him vow to never claim his soul.

Jack proceeded to act like a jerk his
whole life. When he died, he wasn't allowed in Heaven. So he turned
back to the Devil for help.. However, the Devil upheld his end of
the deal, hurling a piece of coal from Hell at the dead man, for good
measure.

Left without anywhere to go, Jack
placed the blazing coal in a turnip (now substituted as a pumpkin) to
use as a lantern. The dead man then set out, doomed to wander until
he can find an eternal resting place. He appears every year on the
31st October. Beware he might be inside one of your
lanterns.

As for dressing up at Halloween – it
goes back to the Celts who dressed up as evil spirits to confuse the
demons who pray on ordinary folk on this night.

And why do so many people like to be
scared?

Margee Kerr, Ph.D., sociologist, and
author of “Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, told
the website Healthline, “When we're afraid our bodies release
different chemicals that can contribute to feeling good under the
right circumstances.”

Kerr says the positive feelings are
caused by different neurotransmitters and hormones released when the
body feels fear.

These are all triggered by the body's
sympathetic nervous system.

So, that scary feeling gives you a
great big thrill.

Be prepared, your thrill time is coming
soon.

As long as you're not scared to death!