The "So What's The Big Deal With Halloween?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Have the bag full of candy by the front door ready for the first goblin, skeleton, witch, zombie or ghost.  Carol and I live in a rather small development near a major highway that sports shopping center after shopping center, so ... we usually don't have a pathway worn to our front door on Halloween saying "Trick or Treat".  Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows' Eve and is celebrated on October 31 the day before the feast of All Hallows' or All Saints which is observed on November 1st in most Western Christian religions.  

Actually began in the Middle Ages when Christians held a folk belief that All Hallow' Eve was the night where the veil between the material world and the afterlife was at its most transparent.  For me it was always a spooky and mysterious evening reserved for the young who can be scared easily as well as the young at heart who enjoy being scared to death.  For my readers who hail from countries that do not celebrate Halloween, I thought I would give you an idea about the traditional symbols, animals or creatures, in some cases, that we use while celebrating Halloween to scare the crap out of you.  So here goes:

• Spiders:  Spiders have always been seen as mystical creatures and symbols of fear because of their venom.  The webs that they create seem to always show up in haunted and abandoned buildings and tombs, so they are a natural to try and scare someone.  And just for your information ... all spiders have venom, which can be toxic, but its the intensity of the venom that can cause trouble.
• Bats:  At one time Halloween was celebrated by creating bonfires and this fire would attract a multitude of bugs, thus bats to consume the bugs.  Now the bat that you have to watch out for is the Vampire Bat which is bloodsucking and capable of taking human form.  Scared yet?
• Black Cats:  Carol and I had a black cat at one time that we called Midnight.  As black as can be and hard to tell where he was at nighttime when the lights went out.  Black cats are said to be scary since they would hangout with witches, or so people thought.
• Skeletons: It is said that the skeleton was the house of the soul and to ward off evil spirits people would dress to appear dead in skeleton costumes.  The Grim Reaper is said to wear a black cape over his bones.
• Jack-O'-Latern:  Jack-O'-Laterns are used to warn spirits to say away.  Many carve pumpkins with scary faces to really scare off evil spirits.
• Ghosts: It is said ghosts were roaming the earth years and years ago.  How someone decided that a white sheet was the symbol of a ghost is still a mystery to me.
• Zombies:  Ah!  Now we're getting to the creepy part of Halloween.  Zombies are said to be undead people who have reanimated bodies.  The custom came from Haitian and West African folklore.  Here-of-late they have been a popular Halloween caricature since they are really scary.
• Witches:  So now we get into religion.  The Bible condemned witches.  Just read Leviticus 20:27 where it tells you that a woman or man that hath a familiar spirit or is a wizard should be put to death by stoning them.  Still not sure why witches wore black clothes with a comical hat and rode on a broomstick.  Matter-of-fact, I've never ever seen anyone ride a broomstick, dressed in black or any other color as far as that goes.  But, I must admit, I'm scared by witches!

So, you think you have a better idea why people, mostly children, dress up as a bat, cat or witch and go knocking on doors in hopes of getting a candy bar or three.  If you really know, drop me a line and tell me about it so I might know.  Personally, I have a hard time connecting All Saint's Day to Halloween as we celebrate it today.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.