By Otto

Another Halloween is here. My European pre-Christian ancestors believed this day was the fall harvest celebration. After a hard year of farm work, the winter was on its way and people had the food they needed to get by until next spring.

This was also a day for many early European pre-Christian religions that believed souls of the dead could cross over from the nether world and walk among us. Jack-O-Lanterns decorated homes to keep out unwanted evil spirits. Scary masks served the same purpose.

Today kids trick or treat and adults go to parties. Both like to dress up as something either scary or some person or thing they find interesting. We get to pretend we are someone else. This year I decided to be Pol Pot. He’s a little scary and he is definitely interesting. We don’t need the costumes to scar away evil spirits, but for me it is just a tradition and a fun one.

I carved a pumpkin, will hand out some candy, and go to a party. I like good scary movies and songs, as the ones below.

Happy Halloween (or Samhain as some people like to call it)!