All Hallow's Eve (X-ers)
All Hallow's Eve, or Halloween as it has been come to be called, is a popular holiday with children and adults alike. It is a holiday that had its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain or Summer's End. Samhain celebrated the end of the "lighter half" of the year and the beginning of the "darker half".

On this evening the barriers between this world and the Otherworld were believed to be thin and the spirits, good and bad, of the dead could pass through. The spirits of the family's ancestors were welcomed in while evil and bad spirits were warded off by the wearing of masks and costumes. The costumes and masks disguised one as a harmful spirit and avoided harm from others.

It was also a harvest celebration and time to take stock of food stores for the winter. Livestock were slaughtered and the meat prepared for storage. It was the final harvest of the year and the crops were then stored for the winter. Celebrations included bonfires and tales of the family's ancestors.

It was a celebration of the dead and of the harvest.

Today we dress up in scary and not so scary costumes and masks and go door to door for candy or attend costume parties. It is a night for revelry, pranks and fun.

Xavier's mansion was decorated appropriately to celebrate the holiday. Spiderwebs (fake of course), jack-o-lanterns, ghoulish dummies of witches, mummies, vampires and other images right out of horror movies were strategically placed. Artificial smoke floated inches above the floor and swirled around objects and legs. There would be very few trick-or-treaters because of the relatively remote location of the mansion, but it didn't stop the inhabitants from celebrating.