[Elspode]

Samhain was believed to be the time when the "veil" between this world and the next was thinnest, and that the dead could pass through and walk this world again. Depending on how you look at it, ghoulish costumes either honor the dead or help scare them away. Jack-0-Lanterns evolved from the gourds and other root vegetables carved into lanterns to help illuminate dwellings, in hopes of discouraging the spirits from intruding.

It is also believed that communication with the departed is easiest at this time of year for those who choose to do so. Dia del Muerte's custom of feasting on the graves of their ancestors seems to me to combine the notion of communicating with one's departed loved ones and setting a place at the feasting table (a "dumb supper") for them.

Simply put, Samhain is a time to remember, to honor and to experience the usually unseen. The Celts held Samhain in conjunction with the third harvest of the year...the harvest of the animals of their herds, often those who were too weak or old to survive the coming of Winter. It is only natural that an association with Death would derive from this. Also, the days grow shorter at this time of the year, and it seems that the Sun is "dying", and the Earth goes fallow and brown.

Primitive cultures expressed some very, very complex concepts in very interesting, and ultimately, enlightened ways, from a spiritual perspective, I think.