—first originators of "Hallowe'en" celebrations—were a distinctly eerie crowd. They are so far back in history that to all but the antiquarian they have merged into the weird pillars of their temple, Stonehenge, and the Avebury Stones, and have become one with the downs and oak woods of Wiltshire and the dark mountains of Wales.
They had a firm belief in immortality and in metempsychosis or the passage of the soul after death from one animal body to another, and they had the unpleasant habit of offering human sacrifices—though they did limit themselves, when the supply was good, to criminals.
At Stonehenge each Midsummer Morning it is still the custom for strong-minded early risers to drive out to Stonehenge from 1 Salisbury and the country round to see the sun rise upon a special stone. If it doesn't happen to be raining or clouded over, which, you may be sure, often happens, the sight is an impressive one. The Druids are suspected of having got to work on the human sacrifice as soon as the sun's beams lighted on him as he lay upon the stone. apples which to them signified the winter store of fruits.
By the time the Christian' missionaries reached Britain, the British and Roman festivals were strongly fused. The Christians brought a new set of holidays and religious tenets. But the mystery and symbolism of the last night of October were not to be easily uprooted and so the Christian missionaries compromised. To offset the black magic of Druid superstition, the next day—November 1—was declared to be All Saints' Day, and the evening preceding it was named hallowed or holy evening, in popular parlance became Hallowe'en.
The new name, however, did not alter the character of the occasion in the eyes of the people. All Saints' Day was politely acknowledged, but the preceding evening remained the night when ghosts walked and, as such, was respectfully observed. As time went on, a kindlier type of ghost was substituted—the departed spirits - of the family were allowed, on this one night of the year, to visit their old homes. In Ireland, Scotland and Wales food was left for them, hearths were carefully swept, and chairs placed before the fire before the peasants went to bed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.