Hundreds of years ago a celebration amongst the Celtic and some of the Gaelic countries took place on October 31 to celebrate the end of the harvest season. This celebration is where the celebration of Halloween evolved from and was known as the Festival of Samhain. Samhain marked the end of the harvest as well as the days of the sun and the beginning of winter, or the days of darkness. Samhain, who was said to be the Prince of Darkness, would then be the god that would rule over the earth and the months of cold winter that would follow. As the harvest came to a close, great bonfires were lit as part of the ritual because the people believed that as Samhain came into rule, he brought with him the spirits of the dead, both good and evil. The bonfires were thought to scare off the evil among the spirits. As part of the Festival of Samhain, the villagers would often light 2 separate large bonfires side by side. Walking between the 2 bonfires was considered a cleansing ritual, and many would participate. At this time of the year, it was also commonplace to slaughter livestock and prepare it to store for the winter. Since there was no refrigeration in those days it was necessary to wait for cooler weather to store meat without spoiling. As part of the Festival of Samhain, the bones from the animals that had been slaughtered would also be tossed into the bonfires that were burning.

Bonfires were an important part of celebratory lighting in those ancient days long ago. Although Halloween has evolved quite a bit since those days, effective lighting still has many purposes for the holiday. Obviously there is the practical purpose of being able to illuminate dark areas for safety or visual reasons, but there is also plenty of lighting styles that can create ambience, mood and special effects to create a spookier Halloween mood. Whether you are looking for strobe lights or black lights for your haunted house, or some glow in the dark items to make your child more visible on dimly lit streets, with our selection of Halloween lighting products you are likely to find exactly what you need to make your Halloween both safe and memorable.