Vintage Hollywood Halloween

Hollywood movies abound on the horrors of Halloween when witches come out to play and zombies roam the streets looking for new flesh. There is a fixation on the blood and guts of it all and there are many who thrive on it. Hollywood has been making films on the theme of Halloween for a very long time, however, and in the past they were much more glamorous. But what is it about Halloween that chills the blood and brings out the devious fiend of horrible antics residing within all of us? Well seems the whole thing is based on a Catholic tradition of celebrating ‘All Saints Day’ would you believe? The belief is that on ‘All SaintsDay’ the dead are purified in heaven. There are those, however, who have died and are not yet purified and are caught in the middle and must be helped along.

All Hallows Eve is the night before ‘All Saints’ when the dead and the undead meet. Supernatural beings roam the earth in the forms of witches, goblins and warlords meeting with the souls of the undead trying to prevent them from entering heaven. The Celts celebrated ‘All Hallows’ by lighting bonfires to immitate the sun and ward off the coming winter just as lighting candles on the graves of the dead is a way of warding off evil. Really it is a clash between Saints and sinners which goes way back to when the church tried to stamp out pagan celtic rituals by conjuring up these mythical beings of hell and beating them at their own game.
The toffee apples and apple cider with potato pancakes and pumpkins comes from the Christian tradition of abstaining from meat eating on this Holy occasion. On Halloween humour and ridicule go hand in hand with images of horror to confront the power of death. So enjoy your evening of fraternising with lost souls and remember to treat your visitors. If you donate food you it will bring good fortune. An ‘All Saints’ Tradition and probably the only day when the zombies got a good feed.