What I find amusing about the two American traditions is how what had probably been one festival in Europe separated into two traditions with each its own influences.

The traditions are completely distinct - Mexican children don't go from door to door asking for candy, or if they do now it's a recent influence. And North American children dont have meals in the graveyard. But there's the same date, the importance of death (and ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and thing that go bump in the night). It's got to have been the same thing, er, when celts roamed western Europe about 2500 years ago.

In Europe that period of the year is when the weather pattern is changing - officially summer ends on the Sept. 21st (autumn equinox) and winter begins Dec. 21st (winter solstice). But ask anyone in the street, they'll tell you winter starts on Nov 1st.

Charles