Halloween has become all the rage. Beyond the $6 billion in candy sales it's obvious from the growing number of houses in American neighborhoods sporting orange and black. Yet if we hold true to its origins this is neither gore fest nor mere harvest party. Hallowe'en was intended to be about life's transitions both earthly and divine, the mysterious cycles of its disappearance and reemergence.

"For what is it to die, but to stand in the sun and melt into the wind?"

Kahlil Gibran's question from "The Prophet" reminds us that death is not end, but change. That all things eventually transform, and that the differentiating borders are no bright lines.

So believed the ancient Celts, whose Irish descendants imported this mysterious holiday. They called it Samhain (pronounced, "sow-in"), "summer's end," a celebration following final harvest and the return of livestock closer to home as the ground lay fallow for winter. The end of October marked the Celts' new year, the night they believed nature's door between life and afterlife could briefly open. Mystics could communicate with ancestors, receive answers sought and predictions needed to survive the winter and plan for the coming year.

At the center of this celebration was a big bonfire; sometimes children collected wood door-to-door. Celebrants donned spirit or animal masks to disguise themselves so they may avoid or scare mischievous spirts (ghosts thus no different than the people they once were; good and bad could transcend the night's open portal). Like other festive traditions there was much food, music, and dancing for young and old. A giant party.

Centuries later the conquering Romans merged their festivals of Feralia (for the dead) and Pomona (fruit goddess) with Samhain. This is probably how bobbing for apples started; "pomum" means apple or fruit in Latin, from which the French "pomme" derives. As apples and fruit were associated with female goddesses, this probably explains an ensuing tradition of "tricks" by maidens who used yarn, apple parings, or mirrors to divine the identity of future husbands.

Next the convert-seeking Christian church took over, calling Samhain night "Halowen" by the 11th century. Pope Gregory III moved All Saints Day, which was previously in spring, to Nov. 1, incorporating Samhain traditions in Celtic strongholds of Ireland, England, and northern France. In medieval times children from poor families knocked on doors, "going a-souling" to get pastries called soul-cakes, food, or money in exchange for prayers for the household's dead relatives.

That takes us to All Souls Day - for those in purgatory - which is Nov. 2. Mexican Christians put all three together; All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day are celebrated colorfully and collectively as "Los Dias de los Muertos" (days of the dead).

While it may seem ghoulish to some, all of this was supposed to be quite literally spiritual, very natural and holy. Evidence lingers in the name, Halloween. The "hallow" in All Hallows Eve(ning, even, or e'en) means holy or sacred, that is to say, blessed. That which is hallowed is venerated. What is more venerable, more natural to explore, to hold in respectful awe, and celebrate than the transition of life?

Correction: Sometimes the head gets ahead of the hand. Tuesday's print column contained an error and should have read: "Scandinavia heads the list [of most democratic nations], with Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Finland the top five..."

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.