#i also think it's neat that the jack o'lantern; such a staple of halloween; comes from Ireland. Descendants of the Celts

[thicc-astronaut]

I find Halloween really interesting from an anthropological perspective. It started with the Gaelic harvest festival of Samhain, which was held on November 1st, when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead were said to be the thinnest. The ancient Celts would dress up in costumes, acting as the spirits of the dearly departed, and go from house to house, accepting food as offerings on the spirit's behalf.

This was something the ancient Celts were doing from the 9th century and it's survived, albeit in a heavily modified form devoid of its original context, until the modern day.

If there is an afterlife where our spirits go after we die, I wonder if those ancient Celts can see us from there. I like to think they would be happy that, even if their culture and religion had been largely wiped out by Romans and the Catholics, we're still celebrating their celebrations. That we're still dressing as something spooky and going house-to-house asking for food.