So when this Galic pagan festival marking the end of the Fall Harvest in the beginning

of winter, and generally considered to signify the Celtic New Year, dates to as early as

the 5th century BCE.

During Sahuyn, which is not at all spelled like it sounds, legend held that the connection

was strongest between the mortal realm and what was known as the other world, a separate

spiritual plane where mythic heroes and deities resided.

Among the traditions of Sahuyn included lighting bonfires and slaughtering livestock to appease

the vengeful gods, as well as gazing, the practice of dressing up in costume and visiting

neighboring homes, reciting verse, an exchange for food.

Later as Catholicism spread to the British Irish Isles, the church began the Christianization

of the pagan celebration, and the 8th century Pope Gregory III moved the All Saints Day

feast, which had been established as a May holiday by Pope Bonneface IV in the 7th century,

to November 1st, overlapping with and overtaking Sahuyn, transmuting its preceding night, into

all Hallows Eve.

Today, Halloween has been sanitized in a form far removed from its origins as a day of

sublimation to pagan gods to ward off a deadly winter, into a lighthearted family-friendly

celebration, though the tradition of gazing has remained, as kids and adults dress up as

pop culture characters and stock monsters like vampires, mummies, and witches.

And it was Halloween 2007 when a Bay Area entrepreneur chose to open the doors to his shop, serving

a different kind of witches.

Sand witches.

The budding businessman, a San Francisco native with a last name, Shahada, came equipped

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