Here is a video that retells a tale about Stingy Jack and the Devil by a Pagan Witch Collective!
ANCESTOR WORSHIP and HALLOWEEN
The Halloween that is celebrated in the United States is rooted in Celtic traditions and is associated with the cycle of life and death. The carved Jack O' Lantern pumpkin we are familiar with now had its roots in Celtic Ireland where a turnip was carved to hold a candle and held in hand. The turnip was probably a practical idea since a turnip was simply available. I'm not sure how or when pumpkins were used and then turned into laughing Jack-O-lanterns, but maybe it was as simple as that pumpkins grew in the Americas.
In the South-West, and that includes California and wherever Mexican immigrants have settled, a Halloween-like celebration is called The Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead is a day - even a week - for family to gather at the graves of loved ones, to celebrate with food and drink (and offer them some). With humor many creations of sugary skeletons include skeletons participating in all aspects of life, singing, dancing, and simply performing their earthy professions, and are sold in special bakeries.
While Halloween has taken on horrific, even evil, connotations, that many of us do not involve ourselves in and it has even turned into an "anything goes" weekend, to those who are more interested in the spiritual tradition, Halloween is a time when the"veil" between this world and the world of the afterlife is especially thin and so communication with those who had passed on before us. Some people do rituals to contact these ancestors, others simply light a candle, do special prayers (All Souls Day of the Catholic Church), or mantras to release any soul that is in Purgatory to Heaven.
The belief of ancestor contact has roots in the Pagan or Country or Folk beliefs and is tied in with the agricultural cycle of the year, which is also coordinated with the seasonal weather cycle. Fall is the time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, the European countries, when the harvest takes place. The pumpkins and gourds are about to be harvested. Some plant and tree life is only resting and will grow again after dormancy in the spring. Soon the earth will cool, snow will come, and people will spend more time indoors. To our ancestors who lived generations ago in caves and other dwellings, staying close to the burning fire, busy themselves with crafts, and resting was essential, as was relying on many foods that had been stored.
From watching the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of life, a great many early cultures decided that reincarnation makes a lot of sense.
