It started as an ancient pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead.

它從西元前一個凱爾特人為亡魂辦的的古老盛典而開始的。

See, for the Celts back then, November 1st was their New Year's—that was the day that they switched from fall to winter.

是這樣的，11 月 1 日是當時凱爾特人的新年，也是從秋天入冬的日子。

It's also the time of the year that they believed the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead was at its thinnest.

那也是他們相信活人與死人世界之間界線最為薄弱的時候。

That meant that the dead could hang out with the living—that's not comfortable for anybody.

這表示死人可以跟活人相處，對所有人來說都不是件舒服事。

They had a festival called "Samhain".

他們會舉辦稱為「Samhain」的節慶。

It was the most significant holiday of their entire year.

那是一整年中最重要的節日。

They believed it was on Samhain the souls of all the people that had died that year finally travel to the other world.

他們相信就是在 Samhain 當天，當年的亡魂才會終於前往靈界。

To help them get there, the living people lit bonfires to honor the dead to help them along their journey and also to keep them away from the living.

為了幫助祂們抵達，活人會為點燃篝火向亡魂致敬，以幫助祂們踏上旅途並使讓祂們遠離活人。

In the early centuries of the first millennium, Christian missionary showed up—they wanted to change the religious practices of the Celts.

在第一個千禧年的前幾個世紀，基督教傳教士出現了，他們想要改變凱爾特人宗教習俗。

But rather than just obliterate the existing pagan holidays such as Samhain, they tried to transform it.

但與其殲滅像 Samhain 這類的異教節日 ，他們試圖進行改造。

So what the missionaries did was basically say, "Hey, all those supernatural DD's that you worship, they're evil, they're demonic, they're spirits, they're scary.

所以那些傳教士基本上只是說了：「嘿，你們供奉的那些超自然亡魂是邪惡的、像惡魔的，祂們是亡魂，很可怕。」

Then they slapped the new Christian holiday on November 1st—All Saints Day.

接著他們用新的基督教節日「諸聖日」取代 11 月 1 日原本的節慶。

So now everyone was supposed to worship the Saints on November 1st instead of the dead during the festival of Samhain.

所以現在每個人都應該要在 11 月 1 日敬奉聖人，而非在 Samhain 節供奉亡魂。

It didn't work—All Saints Day became known as All Hallows.

但此舉並沒有成功，而諸聖日也以萬聖節更為人所知。

But it was the night before All Hallows—the eve of All Hallows—that people continued to celebrate in the spirit of Samhain as a time of the wandering dead.

但人們卻是在萬聖節前一天晚上，也就是萬聖節前夕，繼續慶祝 Samhain 的精神，將其視為亡魂出沒的時期。

Eventually, All Hallows Eve became Hallow Evening, which eventually became Halloween.

最終，萬聖節從 All Hallows Eve 變成 Hallow Evening，最後演變為今日的 Halloween（萬聖夜）。

Basically, an ancient Celtic, pre-Christian New Year celebration that, over the last couple thousand years, lost its pagan context and transformed into one of the largest secular holidays of modern times.

簡而言之，一個古老的凱爾特基督前新年慶典，歷經數千年後漸漸失去了其異教背景，轉變成為現代最大世俗節日之一。