Many holidays and festivals that are popular today have their origins in ancient celebrations or medieval religious practices?sometimes in a combination of the two. Halloween, for instance, has long been celebrated in Christian countries as the eve of All Saints? Day, and in the United States it is a time for children to wear masks and costumes and to go out asking for treats. But in ancient Britain and Ireland, October 31 was celebrated as the end of summer. In later centuries it was the opening of the new year and was the occasion for setting huge bonfires on hilltops to drive away evil spirits. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on that day, and the annual fall festival acquired sinister connotations, with evil spirits, ghosts, witches, goblins, black cats, and demons wandering about.

Halloween was but one of many festival times whose origin was in the change of seasons. The ancients celebrated the summer and winter solstices and the autumnal and vernal equinoxes?all times of change, suggesting birth, death, and rebirth. At such time it was believed that supernatural forces were in control of the world and needed to be appeased. People therefore reenacted the roles of spirits, gods, ghosts, or demons by wearing grotesque masks and costumes; and they used noisemakers such as bells, horns, or rattles to drive the spirits away. The masks and noisemakers so common at New Year?s Eve celebrations no doubt have their roots in just such a seasonal festival.

Folk artists used all their ingenuity to make effective costumes, masks, and noisemakers for all of these significant community celebrations. They prepared special foods in symbolic shapes; decorated trees, poles, vehicles, and banners; and sculpted figures, lanterns, dolls, and shrine adornments.