"For what is it to die, but to stand in the sun and melt into the wind?" Kahlil Gibran's question from "The Prophet" evokes the association of death with burning light, of transitions with fire, and sometime near the first of November, of old traditions on all hallows' eve.

Fire and ghosties date at least to Halloween's origins in the ancient Celtic festival Samhain (pronounced, "sow-in"). Samhain was about transitions: fall to winter, harvest's bounty to frozen scarcity,and of course, the bridge between life and death. The highlight of the festival was the night's bonfire, around which Druids would dance in animal costumes to scare off roaming ghosts. They also believed predictions (of the next harvest or future husbands) could be devined on this night.

A historical tool of conversion is to incorporate the conquereds' traditions into the new religion or politic; both the Romans and Christians did so. After the Roman Empire took Celtic territory they combined two Roman festivals, Feralia (for the dead) and Pomona (fruit goddess), in late October with Samhain's bonfire and other traditions. Bobbing for apples may have started this way.

Turnabout is fair play. In 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated conquered Rome's Pantheon to Christian martyrs; that feast day was later moved to Nov. 1. By then Pope Gregory III had designated Nov. 1 as a day to honor all saints (All Saints' Day or All Souls' Day); the eve before was called "all hallows' eve," hence hallows' evening, or the contracted hallowe'en.

Samhain-like bonfires, parades, and saint, angel, and devil costumes were part of these early Christian traditions. Children and the poor stopped at doors along the parade route to ask for money or traditional "all souls cakes." For Mexico's all souls' day, Dia de los Muertos, candles and incense are lit to help the spirits find their way home.

When Halloween came to America with the pilgrims it tended to follow geographically denominational lines. Celebrations were more common in heavily Catholic Maryland and the southern colonies. Protestant celebrations were rare at first, but the appeal eventually spread, especially after the influx of Irish immigrants in the late 1800s.

Not so in England, where old habits die hard.

The English still don't really celebrate Halloween, but by interesting coincidence they do have Guy Fawkes Day - again, complete with bonfire. On Nov. 5, 1606, Guy Fawkes was executed for trying to blow up English Parliament as a political Catholic protest against Protestant King James. Soon after, "bone fires" were lit in effigy to symbolize the bones of the Catholic pope. Two centuries later, the effigies of the pope were replaced by likenesses of Guy Fawkes. Trick or treating opportunities never lack; kids in some parts of England walked the streets carrying a "Guy" effigy asking for pennies for Guy, of course keeping the money for themselves. Some pilgrims brought Guy Fawkes Day here, but it soon faded with the sun.

Speaking of sunlight, don't forget to set your clocks back an hour the Saturday night after Halloween. Daylight Savings ends late again this year, at 2 a.m. Nov. 6. That's good news for wandering ghosties on hallows' eve.

Sholeh (whose name means flame) Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email her at sholehjo@hotmail.com.