Halloween Program at the Pomeroy Planetarium

    Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. the Pomeroy Planetarium will show the Halloween Tree.  This is a quality program by Ray Bradbury for the young. It tells about the history of Halloween as well as the relation of mummies, skeletons, witches and goblins to Halloween.

   There will be one showing only.  For more information contact Joe Guenter at 460-1416 or Leslie Lowery at 460-1016.

   The Celts believed on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.  The night of Oct. 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.  In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the other-worldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. 

   Prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter (the winter days are shorter and the nights longer in Ireland than they are here).  To mark the event Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. 

   During the celebration the Celts wore costumes typically consisting of animal heads and skins and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes.  When the celebration was over they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

   By the 800's, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands.  In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated Nov.1 as All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. 

   The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas and the night before it, the night of Samhain began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually Halloween.  Even later, in 1000 A.D., the church would make Nov. 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. 

   It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils.  Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’ and All Souls’, were called Hallowmas.