That was put in a nutshell very well, Cryptic Curiosity. And I got a laugh out of the video, kind of reminded me of the local news in southern California. I did a lot of research and come to find out it goes back to 13,000 years ago to the fire from the sky and the flood. Here are some extracts from the very well learned.
In European Calendars, the last day of October, and the first and second days of November, are designated as the festival of ‘All Halloween’, ‘All Saints’, and ‘All Souls’. Though they have hitherto never attracted any special attention, and have not been supposed to have been connected with each other, they originally constituted but one commemoration of three days’ duration, Known Among Almost All Nations as ‘The Festival of the Dead’, or the ‘Feast of Ancestors’. It is now, or was formerly, observed at or near the beginning of November by the Peruvians, the Hindoos, the Pacific Islanders, the people of the Tonga Islands, The Australians, the ancient Persians, the ancient Egyptians, and the Northern nations of Europe, and continued for three days among the Japanese, the Hindoos, the Australians, the ancient Romans, and the ancient Egyptians.
In the ancient calendar in India, the year commenced in the month of November, which bears the name ‘Cartiguey’, i.e., the ‘Pleiades’. In the ancient Egyptian Calendar the same resemblance can be traced between the name of the Pleiades, which among the Hebrews and Chaldeans is ‘Athor-aye’, with that of the Egyptian month of November, which is ‘Athor’, meaning ‘The Night’. The Arab name for the ‘Pleiades’, ‘Atauria’, also suggests a resemblance. In November, took place the Primeval Festival of the Dead, clad in a veil of Egyptian Mythology. The Isia, the solemn mourning for the God Osiris, ‘the Lord of Tombs’, lasted for three days, and began at Sunset, like the ‘Lemuria’ of the Romans, and the Festival of the Dead among the Persians and other nations. The singular custom of counting the day from the Sunset of the preceding day, or the Nocturnal System, was so universal, that many consider it proof of the unity of origin of our race. The Bible tells us “the evening and the morning were the first day” (Genesis 1 : 5). The Babylonians also started their days at Sunset. But the first day of our Festival of the Dead, is a still stronger illustration, as it is called Halloweve.
The Indigenous Australians also consecrate Three Days to the Memory of the Dead, as a Vernal New Year’s Celebration, regulated by the time-honoured Pleiades at the end of October, in which they paint a white stripe over their arms, legs, and ribs, they appear, as they dance by the Fires at night, like so many Skeletons Rejoicing.
In Mexico, we find that ‘The Great Festival’ of the Mexican cycle was held on the 17th of November, and was regulated by the Pleiades. It began at Sunset ; and at Midnight as that Constellation approached the Zenith, a human victim was offered up to Avert the Dread Calamity which they believed impended over the human race. They had a Tradition that at the time the World had been previously Destroyed ; and they dreaded lest a similar Catastrophe would, at the end of a cycle, Annihilate the human race.
In our calendar November 1st is still marked All Saints’ Day, and in the pre-Reformation calendars the last day of October was marked All Hallow Eve, and the 2nd of November All Souls’, clearly marking a Three-Days’ Festival of the Dead, commencing in the evening and regulated by the Pleiades. Hence also the Hallowe’en torches of the Irish, the Bonfires of the Scotch, the coel-coeth Fires of the Welsh, and the tindle Fire of Cornwall, all lighted in Hallowe’en. To this day, in France, the people repair to the cemeteries and lunch at the graves of their ancestors.
