Halloween, or ‘All Hallows’ is easily the most controversial holiday celebrated in America. Spurred by rumors and religious hysteria, works of poor scholarship contend that Halloween is the day of the Devil, a satanic celebration of dark forces disguised as a children’s holiday. Parents are duly informed by sour faced guardians of morality that celebrating Halloween puts their children in immediate danger from the Dark One himself, who seduces them by pretending it’s all about candy and dressing like ghosts… and the misinformation and urban legends are continually passed around year after year, as each newly horrified parent dashes off letters to the editor to inform the world of their frightening new discoveries. Problem is, almost none of the stories passed around are true. Not that the religious right bears all of the blame for sloppy research- many modern neopagans have elevated Halloween to major festival status, based on similar associations of Halloween with the Celtic autumn festival of Samhain. The trouble is, there really isn’t any evidence that All Hallows was based on any specific Pagan festival, and most of the more recognizable features of Halloween are of modern origin!
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