by Kenneth C. Davis

When I was a boy in the early 1960s, the Halloween party at our church was the highlight of the autumn social calendar. In those simpler days, kids bobbed for apples and paraded through a spooky haunted house wearing homemade costumes -- Daniel Boone with a coonskin cap for boys, and tiaras and fairy princess wands for girls. It was safe, secure, innocent.

Today, Halloween is far more commercial -- and complicated. It's an extravaganza of licensed characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Spider-Man. Parades in cities such as New York draw more adults than kids. Beer is promoted more widely than candy corn. As for Halloween parties in church? That's the last thing many Christians have in mind, equating the day with witchcraft and evil.

So, who's right? Is Halloween a day of innocent merriment or a celebration of sinister forces? History shows it is, in fact, a little of both. Rooted in pagan traditions more than 2,000 years old, Halloween grew out of a Celtic celebration marking the onset of winter's gloom. Called Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sow-een), it combined the Celts' harvest and New Year festivals, held in late October and early November by people in what is now Ireland, Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe. This ritual was tied to the seasonal cycles of life and death, as the last crops were harvested and livestock were brought in for winter or for slaughter.

The Celts also saw Samhain as a fearful time, when the barrier between the worlds of the living and dead broke and spirits walked the Earth. Going door-to-door, children collected wood for a sacred bonfire that provided light against the growing darkness. During this fiery festival, the Celts wore masks, often made of animal heads and skins, hoping to frighten off spirits. As the celebration ended, families carried home embers from the communal fire to relight their hearth fires.

Getting the picture? Costumes, trick-or-treating and jack-o'-lanterns all got their start more than 2,000 years ago at an Irish bonfire.

Christianity took a dim view of these "heathen" rites. Attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a church-approved holiday, the seventh-century Pope Boniface IV designated Nov. 1 All Saints' Day to honor saints and martyrs. Then, in 1000 A.D., the church made Nov. 2 All Souls' Day, a day to remember the departed and to pray for their souls. Even still, people continued to celebrate holy days like Samhain, costumed as angels and devils, with bonfires and parades. Together, the three celebrations (All Saints' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day) were called Hallowmas, and the night before came to be called All-hallows Evening, eventually shortened to "Halloween."

Merged with Christianity, these Celtic rituals held sway in Europe for centuries. And when millions of Irish and Europeans emigrated to America, they carried along their traditions.

Halloween, in other words, is deeply rooted in myths -- ancient stories explaining the seasons and the mysteries of life and death. Myths have always been the way people make sense of their world. That's why even Halloween's ancient stories live on so vividly in our movies, language and holidays.

Contributing Editor Kenneth C. Davis' latest book is "Don't Know Much About Mythology: Everything You Need to Know About the World's Greatest Stories but Never Learned"(HarperCollins, $26.95).

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Why we associate black cats and witches' brooms with Halloween

Jack-o'-lantern. The age-old practice of carrying home embers in a hollowed-out turnip burns strong. In an Irish folk tale, a man named Stingy Jack once escaped the devil with a turnip lantern. When the Irish came to America, Jack's turnip was exchanged for the more easily carved pumpkin, and Stingy Jack's name lives on.

Black cat. Thought to be reincarnated beings since ancient times, black cats were considered "familiars," witches in disguise, in the Middle Ages, which led to a cruel practice of burning them.

Trick-or-treating. This comes from a medieval practice called "souling," when children begged for cakes on All Souls' Day and recited prayersfor the dead relatives of whomever gavethem treats.

Witch. Most ancient peoples, includingthe Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, hadmyths and folklore about those capable of magic. As Christianity spread, witchcraft got a bad name and was linked to devil worship.

Witch broom. An old corn dance, a fertility rite usually done during the full moon, involved jumping over a stick or broom. It was an easy leap to connect this dance to witches riding broomsticks across the full moon. Other tales say witches hid wands by disguising them as brooms.

Witch hat. Some experts say the pointy hat was just the style worn by peasant women -- those often accused of witchcraft -- in 16th-century Europe. For millions today, the Wicked Witch of the West's headgear has been confirmed as scary witch wear.

Collecting for UNICEF. Turning the door-to-door candy quest into a charitable purpose was the brainchild of a Philadelphia minister. In 1950, $17 was collected in milkcartons; last year, a record $5 million was raised in America for the United Nations Children's Fund. Witch illustration: CSA Printstock/Veer; Child in costume: Roderick Chen, Picturequest