Daily Brain Food.
Thoughts of the day
If you ever wonder how and why Halloween came to be, unsurprisingly, it started off as something entirely different to what it is today.
Halloween's origins can be traced back to an ancient Gaelic festival called Samhain. This marked the time of the year when the seasons changed. As the summer came to an end, the Celts believed that the boundary between our world and the world of the dead became thinner, enabling them to communicate with spirits.
Of course, nowadays, the meaning is far less religious, and provides yet another opportunity for children of all ages to dress up and eat candy without regrets. But, the inclusion of a night of horrors in pop culture also serves to remind us that even a little scare is sometimes not just perfectly acceptable, but absolutely necessary.
From horror writer, Peter Straub:
“Most people will tell you growing up means you stop believing in Halloween things - I’m telling you the reverse. You start to grow up when you understand that the stuff that scares you is part of the air you breathe.”
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