Once upon a time the land witch is now Great Britain was inhabited by people called Celts. Perhaps you have heard of them. The Celts were what we call pagans. They worshiped the sun. They had many religious festivals and at all these they built huge fires on the hilltops in honor of the sun-god. Now, the priests of the people were called Druids, and it was they who performed all the religious rites at the festivals. At these rites they used sacred fires. It is from these fire-rites that the modern use of fire in many of our own celebrations has come. Who would suppose that the bonfires and torch parades at Halloween and perhaps even the lights of the Jack O'Lanterns came from the influence of these people who lived so many hundreds of years ago."
"One of the most important of the Celtic festivals, over which the druids presided, was Samhain. Samhain meant 'Summer's end'. It came in the fall of the year, just after harvest, and was celebrated on the last day of October. When the Roman people invaded Britain and introduced Christianity, this holiday was no longer called Samhain. It came to be Halloween."
