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Halloween’s origins date to the ancient Celtic festival __1__ of Samhain(pronounced sow-in). The Celts, which lived __2__ 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom,and northern France, celebrated its new year on November 1.
This day marked the end of the summer and the harvest and __3__ the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that at the __4__ night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the live and the dead became blurred. On the night of October __5__ 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it believed that the ghosts __6__ of the dead returned to earth. In addiction to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the other worldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic Priest,make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent __7__ on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires,Which the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices __8__ to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisted of animal heads and skins, and __9__ attempted to assume each other’s fortunes. When the celebration __10__ was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
