Halloween is very fascinating to me and as Halloween is not so popular or rather unknown over here in Germany I decided to create a special Halloween page for all who like to join the party.


Please follow me to the house of horrors.







OOPS - what a spooky house!

But aren't there any ghosts?
Sure there are!

Just be quiet and I will introduce you to a real ghosts.








A bit small, eh?
Well, it is a very young one.
But he is friendly.


Watch out!

Now I will show you one of those really old ones. See if this one is more of a fright!











But there is more horror waiting for you in the chambers of horror down in the old vault. Are you ready to see something really frightening? This is certainly not for the fainthearted.















Halloween - to celebrate the night when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest - is a very old tradition. The ancient Celts knew it as Samhain. That means "summer's end". Halloween has its origins in my favourite place on planet earth - the British Isles.




Since ancient days there have been celebrations on October 31st. Samhain was a feast for the dead and also the beginning of the new year. The year was seen as a wheel. Earth religions have the belief that time is circular, not linear. The circle of life can be seen in the year and the seasons. Through the celebrations of the holidays of a year, we are allowed to experience and understand the eternal processes of life, death and rebirth.

The ancient Celts saw Samhain as a spiritual time, very potent for magic and communion with spirits. In this night the barriers between the natural and the supernatural are temporarily removed. The rise of the Church led to a growing suspicion of the old religious ways. Communion with the dead was thought of as devils work and witchcraft. This is why Samhain or Halloween became associated with witches, black cats, bats, ghosts and other creatures of the night.

Lots of the old traditions our ancestors used to do have survived - some are only odd Halloween customs now. But they used to have deep religious meaning.

It was believed that in this night the dead could return to the land of the living. People invited their dead kin to feast with them. It is therefore a memorial day for the dead. It is a time to reflect on our mortality and to think about life. People used a Jack-O-Lantern made of a pumpkin or a turnip to frighten away those other creatures who were around in that night. This tradition comes from an Irish tale. Jack could enter neither heaven nor hell and was condemned to wander through the night with only a candle in a turnip for a light. So goes the legend of "Jack of the lantern". If you set a Jack-O-lantern in your window it, it may cast a spell for protection over the household. Another legend tells that candle flames which flicker on Samhain are being touched by the spirits of dead ancestors or ghosts.







If you want to read more about Samhain you may like to try the following links:

Witchesweb
The witches voice
The holidays of witchcraft
Samhain






















For more information about Halloween, party ideas, games and recipes see below:


























Credits and thanks for the used clip-arts and animations go to

Breezes Graphics Designs

and

Magnus Gurne

and

Living Graphics



If there is any Graphic in our page where you have the Copyright for, please let us know and we give you credit.