Halloween is going to be very different this year (2020). The country is at different levels of lock down because of the virus sweeping our world. Trick-or-treating won’t happen for most, and large parties are liable to incur large financial penalties. Commercial interests, however, are still making every effort to ‘sell’ this pagan festival, parents and children will still find a way to mark the day, and for pagans it is still a significant day in their calendar. The celebration of Halloween on 31 October each year goes back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced Sahwin). Indeed this is still the pagan name for the festival that falls around the 31st October, depending on the phases of the moon. It was, and remains, a time when many people thought the barrier between the natural and supernatural worlds, between the living and the dead, broke down, and could more easily be crossed. All Hallows Eve The church wanted to di...