Halloween decorations are set for a celebration in Brooklyn, N.Y. With all the festivities, it is easy to forget that the holiday’s origin is rooted in something much more somber: death.

Halloween brings so much festivity — candies, costume parties, carved pumpkins and all — that even with ubiquitous skeleton decorations, it is easy to forget that its origin is rooted in something much more somber: death.

Halloween is thought to have originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which is celebrated on the last day of October, the end of the harvest season. On this day, “doorways” to the otherworld were thought to open, and souls of the dead visit the living world. People lit bonfires, wore costumes and left food and drink offerings outside to appease ghosts. They also prayed to spirits that people and livestock survived the winter.

When the Romans conquered Celtic territories, these traditions assimilated and evolved into All Saints’ Day or All Hallows’ Day, a celebration of saints and martyrs. Its evening known as All Hallows’ Eve eventually morphed into what we now call Halloween.

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This Halloween, we may get to enjoy more than fleeting pleasures of sugar-high or intoxication, if we, like our ancestors, think intentionally about our own mortality. Doing so may just help ease our anxieties and help us live with a greater purpose, compassion and........

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