AUBURN — Halloween or All Hallows Eve is that time of the yearwhen it’s said that the passage between our world and theafterworld opens to allow communication with the dead. In keeping with tradition, members of the Unitarian UniversalistSociety of Auburn held a special Samhain ceremony on Sunday morningto honor their departed loved ones. Samhain is an ancient tradition of honoring departed ancestorsand other souls through feasts and celebrations. “When someone dies you don’t always get that ending,” saidMerlyn Fuller, a congregation member who led the Samhain. “Youdon’t always get that closure. This is a time to celebrate ourloved ones who have changed our lives and have lived before us. Atime when the veil becomes thin between the world of the living andthe world of the dead allowing our ancestors to return to helpus.” Many were present with pictures and mementoes of their departedloved ones ready to share stories of the good that was brought intothem because of the lives the deceased once led. “We are not supposed to be afraid of the dead,” Fuller said.“They are our loved ones. They are here to help us.” According to Celtic lore, the Samhain also marks the New Year, atime when the harvest is complete and the end of the lighter halfof the year gives way to the beginning of the darker half. Fuller encouraged members of the group to make a change in thecoming new year: to get rid of the old and make room for thenew. “Just for today, or maybe even this week allow yourself to dreama little,” she said. “Imagine what your perfect world would bewithout limitation. Through these answers you will find the answersof your life.”