Halloween "Hallow" is a transitive verb which still survives with us today it means to honor as holy; consider sacred; or venerate. It originates from the Middle English halowen, from Old English hAlgian, from hAlig holy. Halloween stands for All-Hallows-Even. the evening of All Saints or All Hallows. Halloween, was popular were it originated with the Celts, it was known as Oiche Shamhna (pron: ee-hah how-nah), literally "Samhain Night". It was the night before November 1st which was the beginning of the new year. Pre-Christian Celts had an autumn festival, Samhain (pronounced sow-wain from the Gaelic "samhain"), It was sort of an end of summer festival when dead ancestors revisited the mortal world, and apparently evil spirits slipped out the gate after them. Giant community bonfires would be lit to ward off those evil spirits. In the United States we only had to throw them candy in case fire warnings were up or something. Pope Gregory IV standardized the date of All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day, on November 1 in the name of the entire Western Church in 835. As the church day began at sunset, the holiday coincided exactly with Samhain. It is claimed that the choice of date was consistent with the common practice of leaving pagan festivals and buildings intact while overlaying a Christian meaning. We do know that in the United States Halloween is a festival designed to keep little zombies witches with broom and Batman from attacking your humble abode. Think of it as a Celtic Cinco de Mayo only on October 31st! Spooky huh?