As the season of witches, vampires and ghosts descends upon us - it is time to travel back and examine the true origins of this spooky celebration, questioning whether the transformation of this festival has meant that society has forgotten its roots.

Believe it or not, Halloween originally started off as a British-Celtic tradition, a collective moment to commemorate the dead and reflect on our own mortality. Over time, this Pagan celebration merged with Christian traditions evolving into a blend of supernatural folklore, where people lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward off ghosts from the past!          

More recently, this traditional holiday has become hyper-commercialised. It has spiralled into a culturally contaminated celebration involving expensive costumes, overpriced decorations and quite literally bucketfuls of sugary snacks. Halloween has become an event on a marketing calendar,  for companies to get us to part with our cash in order to generate enormous profits. 

Even the film industry has jumped on the band wagon, capitalising on and exploiting our fascination and interest in the macabre. Due to the numerous Horror movies, Halloween rose up out of the shadows and flourished into a festival of horror. 

Americans are renowned for their halloween festivities, how lavishly they decorate their houses and how creatively they dress up for Halloween. Yet apparently it became popular in America due to Irish immigrants which took the festivities over there. There is a very deep irony in that it was a strongly religious Irish population that spearheaded a festival which has become so money-grabbing. The domination of American Halloween culture has gone global, spreading throughout the world; even to non-Christian countries such as China and Japan. With the help of social media and the film industry, Halloween is bigger than ever.

Is there anything remaining in these new celebrations that reflect the philosophical origins of Halloween?