On Halloween night the Bay Minette Public Library will host its Third Annual Haunted Library from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

There will be treats for everyone, scary stories and a “not too scary” haunted library tour. The event is for children of all ages, and you should be sure to make it one of the stops on your trick or treating schedule.

Before or after stopping off at the library, you can go across the street to the John F. Rhodes Civic Center where the Bay Minette Civic Club’s annual Downtown Halloween carnival will be going on from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The carnival, which is advertised as “not a scary event,” will feature a costume contest, carnival games, a cake walk and trick-or-treating. A perfect thing if your little one isn’t quite ready for the scary.

The origins of Halloween date back 2,000 years to the Celtic festival known as Samhain which marked the New Year. It was the end of summer and the beginning of the cold, bleak winter season that set the tone.

It was believed that the night before the New Year the dead returned to wreak havoc on the land and its people. And, like all superstitions, rituals were put in place to guard against this evil. The people held bonfires to burn crops and have animal sacrifices. The Celts also wore costumes made from the skins and heads of the sacrificed animals.

Later, as Christianity slowly began to take root in the Celtic lands around 1000 A.D., the Catholic Church designated Nov. 1 as All Saints’ Day to commemorate the dead.

However, many of the same rituals were incorporated into the festivities including the bonfires and the dressing in animal skins and heads. In Middle English Alholownesse means All Saints’ Day and over the centuries the name evolved into All-hallows Eve and eventually Halloween.

In North American colonial times, Halloween celebrations were more common in the southern colonies and in Maryland while the more rigid religious beliefs of the Protestant New Englanders kept the observance out. Halloween eventually took on more of the traditional festivities we see today thanks to the influences of the various ethnic groups as well as the American Indians.

In the latter part of the 19th century, North America saw a great influx of new immigrants, many of them Irish immigrants, fleeing the 1846 potato famine, who brought with them English and Irish traditions. Among these traditions were the early incarnations of trick-or-treating where people dressed up and went house to house asking for money and food.

In the 1920s and 30s Halloween became more secular and community oriented with parties and parades. However, due to acts of mischief and vandalism associated with the festivities, the holiday soon became relegated to young children and became more about their treats than any sort of trick.

However you choose to celebrate Halloween, don’t forget to add the library to your list of stops or you’ll be tricking yourself out of a definite treat!