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Halloween's origins date back to the ____________________ Celtic festival of ____________________ ( pronounced sow - in ) . The Celts , who lived 2 , 000 years ____________________ in the area that is now Ireland , the United Kingdom and northern France , ____________________ their new year on November 1 .

This day marked the end of ____________________ and the harvest and the ____________________ of the dark , ____________________ winter , a time of year that was often associated with human ____________________ . Celts ____________________ that on the night before the new year , the ____________________ between the worlds of the living and the dead became ____________________ . On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain , when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth .

In ____________________ to causing trouble and damaging crops , Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids , or Celtic priests , to make ____________________ about the future . For a people entirely ____________________ on the volatile natural world , these prophecies were an ____________________ source of comfort and direction during the long , dark winter .