"Most texts that document the history of Halloween begin with 'the Celtic Festival of Samhain' and relate that this was the 'Celtic Festival of the Dead.' Is there truly any evidence that this was a religious festival - were there druid priests practising ritual human sacrifice - was there ever a 'Celtic Festival of the dead' ?

...'The Celts' have suffered hundreds of years of mystical idealisation with New Age words put in their mouths centuries after they fought and died. The 'Celtic Twilight' is an ethereal dreamworld based on a romantic longing for a lost paradise that never really existed. The true 'Celtic culture' was magnificent - battles were met with frenzy, feasting and drinking were legendary, visual art and craftsmanship was unsurpassed and the bards sung eulogies and told tales of love and strength and the world of magic. Equally their life was harsh and unforgiving. They kept slaves and ruthlessly slew their enemies, keeping their decapitated heads as trophies. They were quick to anger, quarrelsome and drank to excess. The Celtic tribes were indeed passionate about life and death but we trivialise their memory to turn them into a mere romantic ideal...

...Samain was a celebration of the time that had been; you feasted on the best of the harvest and the fresh meat before it was salted for winter. The feis of Samain was a festival which brought the folk together not to mourn but to party - to dance and drink and to tell tales and reminisce by a raging fire before the winter snow and ice."

Extract from Halloween-Pagan Festival to Trick or Treat (c) Mark Oxbrow 2001 Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. http://www.thehalloweenbook.com

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