October 31st is the last day on the Celtic calendar, it was a pagan holiday for honouring the dead. Sometimes reffered to as All Hallows Eve it dates back some 2000 years. 

All Hallows Eve is the evening before All Saints Day, the day that Christians used to convert pagans, celebrated on November 1st.

November 1st is also the day that the Catholic Church honours All Saints.

It was widely believed by Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe, that the souls of the dead roamed the streets at night, and since all were not thought to be friendly spirits, they left gifts and treats out to appease the evil ones so as to ensure a plentiful harvest the following year.

Hence we have Trick or Treat at Halloween.
 

No matter how old you are, the 31st of October is always the day. to look forward to every year to celebrate Halloween. Halloween means children running around in costumes, and friends and family all getting together and a chance talk with their neighbours. When else do you have an excuse to eat all the sweets you want and to wear whatever outrageous costume you want? But Halloween wasn’t always like it is today. In fact, Halloween dates back thousands of years to an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, pronounced / s w n/, / sa . n/, or / sa n/ in English .

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in what we know as the present day United Kingdom, Ireland and northern France, celebrated Samhain as the new year on November 1,because it was at this time of the year that was the end of summer and the harvest period and the start of the winter, which in this region of the world is a cold and dark time. They associated the winter season with death and it was widely believed that on the night before the festival of Samhain the difference between the living and the dead was distorted.

The night of October 31 was when ghosts of the dead where believed to return to earth causing trouble and damaging the food stored after the harvest. Druids the Celtic priests thought it was the best time to make predictions about the future during this period, the prophecies made by the Druids were an important source of comfort for the long, dark winter months ahead.

The Celts observed the event by sacrificing animals in bonfires built by the Druids,to appease the Gods, and when the celebration was over, they lit their hearth fires from the sacred bonfire for protection during the Winter months.

When the Romans conquered the territory occupied by the Celts and ruled over it for 400 years, over the course of time, some Roman festivals were combined with Samhain. One was a day in late October when the Romans celebrated the passing of the dead, and was called Feralia,. The second honoured the Roman Goddess of fruit and trees, Pomona, her symbol the apple and was incorporated into the celebration of Samhain. This could possibly explains the modern day tradition of bobbing for apples, played on Halloween.

About the year 800, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 as All Saint’s Day, a time to honour saints and martyrs. It is believed that the pope was trying to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a Christian holiday. The festival was also known as All-hallows or All-Hallowmas, the Middle English for All Saints’ Day. Soon, the night before it came to be called All-hallows Eve and then eventually, Halloween. About the year 1000, the Christian church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day for to honouring the dead, and it was celebrated like Samhain, with bonfires, parades and costumes like angels, saints and devils. The three celebrations became known as Hallowmas.

Halloween customs eventually spread to America as European immigrants came to America. It was in the second half of the 1800s that Halloween was popularized nationally, mainly by Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s potato famine. Neighbours would share stories of their deceased, tell fortunes, dance and sing, in colonial Halloween, the celebrations featured ghost stories and mischief, but Halloween had not reached the entire country.

Americans began to wear costumes and go from door-to-door asking for food or money, a practice now known as trick-or-treating. At this time, young women believed they could prophesize their future husband’s appearance by doing tricks with yarn and mirrors. By the late 1800s, Americans tried to make Halloween more about community than about ghosts, tricks and witchcraft, by having parties for adults and children, and as a result, the holiday has lost most of its superstitious and religious ties.

In the 20s and 30s, Halloween became entirely community-centred with whole towns having parades and parties. Vandals also began to use Halloween celebrations as an excuse to cause trouble, then that started to decline in the 1950s and Halloween began to focus on the young. Trick-or-treating was started up again as a wat to celebrate Halloween and a new American tradition was born, to become the countries second largest commercial holiday. It is said that today Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween.

The common tradition of dressing up in halloween costumes, has European and Celtic roots, they believed that they could trick the ghosts that came out during Samhain by wearing masks, and then they would put food outside their homes for the ghosts so that they would not enter the home and spoil their food supply, which is probably where trick-or-treating originated.

Another tradition that has come from the Celts – is the making of lanterns by hollowing out Pumpkins, only they used turnips instead of pumpkins. The story has it that a notorious drunk and practical joker named Jack, tricked the devil into climbing into a tree. He then trapped the devil in the highest branches of the tree by carving an image of a cross into the trunk, Jack promised to let him down if the devil never tempted him again, the devil said that he would never tempt Jack again. Legend says that when Jack died he was not allowed into heaven because of his evil past. Jack was also not allowed into hell because of the trick he played on the devil. Instead, Jack got from the devil a single ember so he could light his way through the cold, dark winter. To keep the ember lit for longer Jack placed the light into a hallowed-out turnip. Nowadays pumpkins are used as they are a lot more plentiful, making the pumpkin the official Jack-o-lantern.

Halloween is one of the oldest holiday festivals and second only to Christmas in popularity. Millions celebrate the Halloween each year without knowing any of its origins. Some view Halloween as a time for friends and family, while others still see it as superstitious in nature, with its ties to the souls of the dead returning to cause mischief and mayhem. Some religions even regard it as an unholy holiday. But whatever your viewpoint, you can’t deny the story of Halloween is a fascinating one

Have a Happy and a Safe Halloween.

Aladdin Jasmine Classic Child Costume 

 This fictional 16yearold Arabian Princess runs away from home when her father, the Sultan of Agrabah tells her she must marry one of the Princes that he suggests.

Batman Bold & Brave 

Kids like the muscle torso on this cool looking Batman Bold & Brave Deluxe costume. It comes with a mask hood, cape, muscle jumpsuit, belt and boot covers. Accessories you can get to go with it are: a grappling hook, kids gloves, a Batman ring. There is even a Batman Bold & Brave costume for your dog!

The Harry Potter Gryffindor Robe

The robe with the Gryffindor logo on it is a hot seller. Harry Potter has been a popular costume for the last several years. With the release of the latest Hogwart’s movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it’s going to be a big item this year. There are lots of accessories you can add on to this costume including: Gryffindor tie, Gryffindor scarf, a lantern, glasses, and a broom.

 Transformers Bumblebee 

Transformers have another hit with Revenge of the Fallen and Bumblebee is one of the most popular autobots. Who doesn’t love him…and that great looking car he turns into. This costume comes with a movie mask, a foamed muscle chest jumpsuit…and anyone who wears it looks tough.

Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz

Follow your yellow brick road to the costume store and pick up one of the most popular girl’s costumes this year. It’s Dorothy Gayle and she’s on her way to meet the all powerful Wizard of Oz. Along the way she meets some interesting characters, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, Munchkins and two witches. A good witch Glenda and a bad witch, the Wicked Witch of the West. Along with Toto, Dorothy’s little dog she has a great adventure in the merry old land of Oz. And you will too when you pick this gingham jumper-dress with an attached blouse. There’s a lace trimmed petticoat and hair ribbons. You can also buy a Toto in a basket and white tights to wear with this fun costume.

 GI Joe Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes right out of the movie The Rise of the Cobra. His identity is unknown to us, we only know him as a member of GI Joe’s elite team. He is only called Snake Eyes. He is silent, but lethal and he happens to be Duke’s right hand man. Snake Eyes is always on the look out for his arch-enemy, Shadow Storm of Cobra. This costume has a hood with a visor, a muscle chested jumpsuit and attached bands. You can also find accessories like gloves, a sword with a sheaf and even a GI Joe candy cube to put your goodies in.

GI Joe – Storm Shadow Deluxe Child Costume

Storm Shadow is the arch nemesis of Snake Eyes. Throughout their history, they have been everything from the bitterest of enemies, to the most loyal of friends who would fight and die for one another.

The Little Mermaid Toddler/Child Costume

Of course Princess Ariel of Disney’s Little Mermaid is on the most popular costume list. Your little princess is going to love this Little Mermaid costume. The bottom of Ariels skirt has pictures of Ariel and Prince Eric dancing and the top has an attached Cameo, plus there is a matching headband. You can also find a tiara, a wand and Little Mermaid shoes to match.

Star Wars Anakin Skywalker Kids Costume

Darth Vader before the fall to the Dark Side. Young Anakin Skywalker who will become husband to Padme Amidala and father to Princess Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker. This costume shows us Anakin in his Jedi gear, a shirt with an attached tunic, belt and pants with boot covers.

 Spiderman Muscle Chest Costume

A great new version of the Spiderman costume!

When it’s Spidey Time, this little hero has got to go. This deluxe costume includes a muscle bodysuit and an overhead fabric mask to hide your little superhero’s identity. He’s ready to swing from the skyscrapers of New York City using his inner web power so he can save the day and restore his peaceful and busy city back to it’s original state.

Lil’ Lion Baby Costume

The perfect Halloween costume for your infant or toddler, it comes in 2T and smaller. Look at the wonderful mane on this little lion costume, and then the tail. There are even cute details on the bottoms of the paws, it’s just a beautiful baby costume. This is a zipper suit with a snap bottom.

  Find out what others have said about Halloween and where it’s origins lie.

History Of Halloween

Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient Celtic day of the dead. Halloween is a holiday of many mysterious customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind it. The wearing of costumes, …   Read more…

Halloween History

The history of Halloween traditions in a given country also lends context to how it is presently celebrated. In North America, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are quite diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to …   Read more…

Check Out These Halloween Traditions

So what is it that you and your family do for the great late autumn holiday that we all know as Halloween? For us, of course all of the kids get dressed up, even some of us adults too, and go out trick-or-treating. …   Read more…

Halloween in Spain 

fef Halloween is one of the world’s oldest celebrations, it is popular all over the world and every Country has their own traditions. In Spain it is considered bad luck if a black cat crosses your path, comes into your home or even on board …   Read more…

Halloween Popular Traditions

Modern Halloween is a combination of Celtic and Norse traditions. It centres around the harvest, pleasing the spirits of the dead and blessing food. The colours of black and orange are usually associated with Halloween, …   Read more…

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Festival of Samhain, All Saints, All Souls and Halloween

At the end of Autumn and as the Winter darkness looms, the souls of the dead and the spirits of saints are celebrated in three festivals, Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Together these three festival days are known as Hallowmas, and they are celebrated on October 31^st, November 1^st and November 2^nd.

All over the World people believe that  the dead have souls  that live on and that these become more active at Halloween and All Souls Day.

Halloween was an old Anglo Saxon and Celtic festival and marked the start of the Celtic new year The Celtic celebration was known as Samhain or Samain. Samhain was the Celtic Lord of the Dead.

During the festival, Samhain made his judgement over all the dead souls, so gifts were offered to him in the hope that he might judge the dead souls kindly and let them go home for the night.

Not all of the spirits were kindly spirits, some ghosts and demons would rise up from the dead on this day to create mayhem and turmoil, running around making mischief.

The Celts kept the spirits happy with fires, feasts, dancing, and offering gifts. In order to trick the malevolent spirits people wore   ghostly masks  , making the naughty spirits think that they were also spirits. The people wearing the masks would then lead the malevolent ghosts and demons to the outskirts of the town or village where they could do no harm.

Today this practice takes the form of what we know as Trick or Treating, especially in America where both young and old go about dressed in spooky costumes and masks, asking for Treats with the threat of some sort of mischief or Trick if a treat is not given, usually these days the treat is in the form of sweets or candy.

The modern day Trick or Treater can be dressed as almost anything, some still dress as witches or demons of some sort, but others dress as fictional or cartoon characters. In fact anything goes.

During my researching I have come across some suggestions for Halloween night:-

1. If treats are not given then when they close the door, you take something from their front garden and leave it in a garden further down the road.

2. A good trick or treater always carries extra masks, so if they find an over generous house they can change masks and go back over and over again.

3. Check the phone book for the homes of Doctors and Lawyers in the area, because the more they earn the bigger and better the treat might be. Be warned, avoid the houses of Dentists because they will only give you a lecture about how all the sweets and candy is bad for your teeth.

Although I have shown you some of the things I came across during my research this does not mean that I encourage you to do the same.

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