Boo!

Tonight is All Hallows' Eve.  The vigil of All Saints Day (tomorrow) (honoring the saints in heaven), and All Souls Day (the following day) (praying for those dead wandering about and still on their way).  Just in case you forget what it's all about this evening, while you're out howling at the moon.

Halloween may indeed have originated as the aforementioned religious vigil, or the vigil may have adopted, opportunistically, the customs of earlier Celtic festivals.

In any event, Halloween -- as any kid knows -- is definitely more than just another harvest festival.  The aroma of the grave hangs over the night.  The dead, the walking dead, the undead, the ghoul, the banshee, the witch, the warlock, and the just plain, old, vanilla-flavored ghost -- they all play a major part in tonight's revels.

The pumpkin?  Or more precisely, the "jack-o'-lantern"?  According to Irish legend, Jack was a guy who made a bargain with the devil that he would never be accepted into Hell.  Unfortunately, he wasn't admitted to Heaven either, and he forever roams the earth with a hollowed-out turnip -- yes, turnip -- lit up by an ember from Hell that Satan hurled at him in disgust.  We do things bigger in America, hence the replacement of turnips with pumpkins.

Halloween used to be -- at least in my provincial home town -- a day for children's parties (bobbing for apples, wearing cute costumes, and drinking unfermented cidar) -- and, of course, for trick or treating by candy-crazed urchins, kids often accompanied by their resigned parents.  In our more enlightened era, Halloween has become also an excuse for adults to join in covertly or overtly pagan celebrations, roaming the streets, usually inebriated and usually dressed far less innocently than were the skeletons, witches and princesses of our youth. 

No harm, I guess.  It's all in fun, for the most part.  And it's only one night a year.  But, if he had his druthers, this curmudgeon would happily hand the holiday back to the kids.