Halloween is celebrated each year as one of our first Fall holidays on October 31^st, and this year that happens to be this Saturday.

Have a HAPPY (and safe) HALLOWEEN this year, everyone!

With as much modern fun that Halloween is, I realize that the celebrations this year may be a bit subdued compared with previous years.

So, I thought I’d bring in a bit of the holiday’s ancient history in today’s blog. 

The early Celtic pagan holiday of Samhain at the end of October involved ritualistic ceremonies to ward off ghosts of the dead. The Celts celebrated in costumes made mostly of animal skins as disguises against evil spirits of the past, and they prepared and enjoyed special feasts of autumn foods. Lanterns made out of gourds were used to light the night and these became the ancient version of our pumpkin lanterns. Huge bonfires were lit to ward off evil.

Halloween is distinctly tied to the religious holiday of All Saints’ Day, which in modern times is celebrated on November 1^st.  Halloween, translated literally as All Hallows’ Eve, coincides with the more religious All Saints’ Day, a day set aside to remember our deceased loved ones.

The ritual of apple bobbing, still popular at Halloween, was originally a fortune-telling game on All Hallows’ Eve a couple of centuries ago. Apples would be selected for all of a woman’s suitors, and the guy represented by an apple that she would end up biting into would become her future husband. This Halloween ritual became a matchmaking opportunity for young women in the early 19^thcentury.

For Halloween now, we simply eat, drink and be merry on what was once a much more ghoulish holiday.

For a great Halloween weekend read, my novel The Serial Chemist should give you a thrill and a chill.

Download it today.

As an eBook, order thru Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords

As a paperback version, order thru Amazon Paperbacks

AND The Serial Chemist can be ordered through your local library or favorite local bookstore!