Five For...Fun Halloween Facts

Here are some fun and interesting facts for you:

•  Halloween is thought to originate in Ireland with the Celtic festival of Samhain. It only became 'big' in America in the 1800's.
  
• The word- Samhain- means 'summer's end' and was a harvest festival. It also marked the end of the light part of the year and the beginning of the dark part of the year (winter). This was the Celtic New Year and was celebrated on 31st October.
  
•  The pagan Celts believed that at this time of the year the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead were the thinnest and that dead souls could come back and visit the living. It is possible that the wearing of scary costumes was to scare away those spirits.
• The name 'Halloween' has its orgins in the Roman Catholic Church. It comes from a contraction of the words 'Hallows' and 'E'ven'. 'All Hallows E'ven' (or evening) was the day before (or eve) of 'All Hallows Day'. 'All Hallows Day' (Hallow meant holy or saint in Old English) was previously celebrated in May but was moved to the 1st November by Pope Gregory in  835 CE . It is a day set aside to honour saints who don't have their own feast day.

Here are two possibilities for the origins of trick-or-treating:

• The Celts would go door to door and collect food to give as offerings to the gods for the harvest.
• In the Middles Ages in Ireland and Britain the poor would go door to door and collect food in exchange for saying prayers for the dead on All Soul's Day (2nd November) . (Similar to wassailing at Christmas, this was called 'Souling'). At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo (purgatory) for a time after death, and that prayer could help their souls get into heaven quicker.

 Did you ever wonder about Jack-o-lanterns?

• According to folklore, a man named Stingy Jack tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree. After Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.
  
  
• The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when they came to America , turnips were hard to find but pumpkins were plentiful. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.