I am taking a week of no blogging. Will be back Monday 10 November. However, a post or two may eventuate.
Thanks
Graham
I am taking a week of no blogging. Will be back Monday 10 November. However, a post or two may eventuate.
Thanks
Graham
It is believed that the Irish began the tradition of Trick or Treating. In preparation for All Hallow's Eve, Irish townsfolk would visit neighbours and ask for contributions of food for a feast in the town.
Always burn new candles on Halloween to ensure the best of luck. It is not a good idea to burn Halloween candles at any other time of the year. It may bring bad luck or strange things will happen to you, over which you will have no control.
Gazing into a flame of a candle on Halloween night will enable you to peer into the future.
Girls who carry a lamp to a spring of water on this night can see their future husband in the reflection.
If a candle suddenly goes out by itself on Halloween, as though by breath or wind, it is believed that a ghost has come to call.
It is believed that if a person lights a new orange colored candle at midnight on Halloween and lets it burn until sunrise, he or she will be the recipient of good luck.
Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from the roman harvest festival that honours Pamona, the goddess of fruit trees
Turnips and beets served as the original jack-o-lanterns.
Pumpkins originated in Central America. When Europeans arrived in the New World, they found pumpkins plentiful and used in cooking by Native Americans. They took seeds back to Europe where they quickly became popular.
Burning a candle inside a jack-o-lantern on Halloween keeps evil spirits and demons at bay.
Halloween is the second most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first. People spend as much as over $2.5 billion during Halloween on candies, costumes, decorations and parties.
A pumpkin is a berry in the cucurbitaceae family, which also includes melons, cucumbers, squash and gourds. All these plants are native to the Americas. Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings!
Black cats were once believed to be witch’s familiars who protected their powers.
Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.
Orange and black are Halloween colours because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.
There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, the colour of pumpkin.
Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.
The first Halloween card was made in the early 1920’s. These days, over 28 million Halloween cards are sent each year. U.S. consumers spend about $50 million on Halloween greetings
According to folklore, the jack-o-lantern got his name from a man named Jack. Jack o lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.
The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.
Halloween was originally a Celtic holiday celebrated on October 31.
Samhainophobia is an intense fear of Halloween.
Mexico celebrates 'The Day of the Dead' instead of Halloween.