Halloween as it is known today, is rooted in ancient Celtic tradition of 2,000 years ago, where it was known as the Festival of “Samhain,” (correctly pronounced as “sah-win.”) October 31st represented the end of the harvest season, and an imaginary dividing line between fall and winter. Halloween is a shortened form of All Hallows’ Eve, All Hallows’ Evening, or Hallowe’en.

In Gaelic culture, the Festival of Samhain celebrated the end of fall harvest. It was a time when people figured out what supplies they needed for winter started to prepare for the long, dark, cold season by stocking up on necessities.

The Gaels, as they were known, were very superstitious and they were persuaded that October 31st was a day on which the dead would return to unleash their wrath on communities by inflicting sickness on people, or damage, if not total destruction, to crops. Bonfires were a very important part of the festival because, as Gaels believed, they attracted insects and bats who might protect their fields.

Efforts to appease or taunt the spirits often centered on wearing costumes or masks. For the Celts who lived 2,000 years ago, All Hallows’ Eve also happened to be the night before their New Year began on November 1st.

The traditions that are part of the American concept of Halloween evolved out of traditions that Iris and other immigrants from that part of Europe, brought to the United States when they emigrated in the mid 19th century, desperate to escape the devastation of the potato famine.

If you want to celebrate Halloween with a little “treat” for someone special without inundating their bodies with sugar, give them something that brings the earthiness of fall into their home with a bouquet of fall-colored flowers.

Instead of decking your house out with hanging skeletons, or any other ghoulish things you might find in a haunted house, go back to the roots of Halloween and combine some of the “good luck” symbols of Celtic history into your fall decorating scheme – without creating a mess that takes you hours to clean up. With the “Bats over Austin” or “Bats Take Flight” Bouquets, you can bring a bit of the Halloween history into your home, or share that history with co-workers, friends, family members, or even neighbors. Take the “trick” out of “trick-or-treat,” but leave the treat in – with Halloween Flowers.