Halloween began long before individually-wrapped candies, frightening costumes and all-night horror movie marathons on cable television emerged as holiday staples. The “fright night” of October 31 is an amalgamation of ancient practices that continues to evolve.

As early as the fifth century, B.C., the Celtic people of what is now Ireland celebrated Samhain. The seasonal feast with pagan religious overtones was held at October’s conclusion. The Celts believed that the souls of the dead returned to earth on that night and lit bonfires to guide them.

Approximately thirteen centuries later, the Catholic Church decided to establish a special day to honor all of its hallowed saints who did not have a celebratory day of their own. The event, Allhallowmass, was schedule for November 1 of each year. The night before Allhallowmass became known as Halloween.

Although those in the eighth century approached the day with reverence, the event was eventually imbued with elements of the Celtic Samhain, Roman harvest festivals and the seasonal traditions of other cultures.

In the Middle Ages, many associated the night before Allhallowmass with witchcraft, as it was believed that practitioners of the black arts met, conspired, and planned their magic deeds on October 31.

In time, Halloween took on a more celebratory tone consistent with harvest festivals but carrying with it the images of ghosts and witchcraft. The entertaining and frightening merged into variations of “Hell Night” and “Devil’s Night” in which revelry and spookiness coexisted.

Our modern commercialized Halloweens may be a departure from the holiday’s simpler ancient roots, but October 31 does retain some vestiges of its ancient past. Trick-or-treaters, for instance, are successors of poor Irish peasants begging for food and drink on the night of festivities. The night’s association with witches and ghouls remains solidly in place, as any examination of Halloween costumes clearly indicates.

Though we have gone from bonfires and spirits to candy bars and costumes, we still celebrate October 31, as people have for over twenty-five centuries.