23 Oct Halloween

Halloween originated 2000 years ago with the ancient  festival of Samhaim, which marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the winter (the darkest part of the year), serving as the Celtic New Year.

Celts believed that the night of October 31st, the boundary between the living and the dead blurred, allowing spirits to return to this world.

Over time, the festival was Christianized as “All Hallows’Eve”, and its traditions were brought to America by Irish and Scottish immigrants.

Traditions

• Trick-or-treating: children in costumes go door-to-door saying “Trick or treat!” to receive candy
• Costumes: people of all ages dress up in costumes, a tradition that began with the Celts who wore disguises to hide from spirits
• Jack-o’-lanterns: carving pumpkins with faces is a modern version of the old tradition of carving turnips or other root vegetables to scare away evil spirits.

Curiosities

• Black and orange, the colours associated to Halloween, represent the death of summer and the life of the fall harvest respectively
• Sugar rationing during World War II paused trick-or-treating
• Some shelters used to suspend black cat adoptions in Halloween because they feared that the animals were in danger from Satanic cults
• The night before Halloween is called Mischief Night or Goosey Night