Matthew Holden

Happy Halloween to all for 2008! Certainly plenty of ghosts out there trying to get me but at least I haven’t been burnt at the stake!

The word itself, “Halloween,” actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, “All Hollows Day” (or “All Saints Day”), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.

Halloween isn’t really celebrated in Singapore or Australia. Singapore takes advantage of tourists and promotes various opportunities but it is nothing compared to how it is treated in the United States.

Tags: Australia, catholic church, Halloween 2008, origins, Singapore

This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 8:07 pm and is filed under Stack. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.