10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Halloween
What is your favorite holiday other than Christmas and Thanksgiving? Valentine’s Day? No…The 4th of July? No…Halloween? Yes, you have guessed correctly. Most of us can remember the thrill of dressing up, going from house to house and asking for candy. What’s not to like about that? It’s the best of both worlds – we can eat all the goodies we want and promenade around our neighborhood as a superhero, princess or as a civilian. Sadly, most of us to this day do not know how or why this tradition began.
Halloween is a mysterious holiday with unclear origins. I know – it is shocking isn’t it? Scholars are at odds even today about the true origins of this beloved holiday. They just can’t agree. Some people believe that Halloween is nothing but a pagan holiday. Others take a more religious approach and say that it was inspired by the traditions of European Christians. There are all kinds of myths and legends attached to this beloved and tooth decaying festivity. So who is right? Actually, they all are.
- The origins of Halloween can be traced back to the western parts of Europe.
- October 31st falls on the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows or known to many as All Saints’ Day.
- The Irish and the Scottish celebrated the harvest festivals and festivals of the dead.
- The word Halloween was first used by our friends the Scottish. It is a word derived from the words All Hallows ‘Even which means the night before all hallows day.
- The word Halloween is in fact Christian. It also has pagan roots. This word is linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain pronounced SAH-WIN or summers end.
- Samhain opened a door to the other world. Lost or dead souls entered our world along with fairies and other beings.
- The Jack-o-lantern originated from carved turnips. In the 19th century, people in Ireland and the highlands of Scotland would use these turnip lanterns to light their way and to protect themselves against the dead who visited.
- Trick-or-Treating started by the ringing of a bell. People would ring bells for the souls in purgatory. This tradition was called SOULING, a process of baking cakes and sharing them with children who would go door to door.
- North American immigrants used the pumpkin because it was larger, easier to carve and it was native to their land.
- Dressing up in a costume was first called, GUISING. This tradition also started in Scotland and Ireland.
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Mary Beth
It’s always fun to read up on the oddball facts and little historical lessons we run into here on GiftsIn24 now and then. Even when it doesn’t have anything to do with personalized stationery, it’s still a welcome read. Most of this was totally new to me, although I had heard about how jack-o-lanterns were originally turnips before.
31 October 2012, 4:57 pmstationeryfan811
Is anyone else having a Halloween party tonight? I know it’s a Wednesday night and all, but I didn’t want to wait and have a party in November; the Halloween spirit fades quickly after All Hallow’s Eve is over. But I also had Halloween parties to go to last weekend, so I decided to go ahead and have my party on Halloween itself. People should be arriving… any time now, actually. I’ve got some great black and orange personalized napkins that say Happy Halloween 2012!, and I think they will be a big hit, along with the candy and snacks and punch and everything else I’ve got ready. I’m so excited!
31 October 2012, 6:22 pmPaulette Leto
Did everybody have a good Halloween? I know I did! I enjoyed seeing all the trick -or-treaters in their cute little costumes, and giving out lots of candy. It sure did get awfully cold out tonight though. It seems like when I was a kid it often rained on Halloween, or at least whenever I went trick-or-treating it seemed to. At least we didn’t get any of that today.
I know today’s blog doesn’t really have anything to do with personalized stationery or anything, but that’s alright. I actually had some Halloween-themed personalized napkins that I gave away with some cupcakes, and everybody seemed to like those. I used the Pumpkin Foil-Stamped Napkins, and a lot of the parents and even a few of the kids complimented me on how cute the napkins were!
31 October 2012, 11:37 pmCierra
I don’t know if I agree with some of the comments above. I think this post has a lot to do with personalized stationery. Think about it! Holidays are why we need to send our family and friends Christmas cards each year and buy napkins with our favorite holiday theme on them. Great blog post.
1 November 2012, 9:18 amAshleigh316
Cierra, I read some of the comments above as meaning that the blog doesn’t really talk about personalized stationery. Which is true, it doesn’t. I imagine that sending personalized cards on Halloween isn’t very common, but I think I’ve seen them for sale so some people must do it. Christmas and other holidays are probably a lot more common for sending cards to people, but then you also mentioned holiday-themed personalized napkins. I’m surprised those didn’t get brought up more, since GiftsIn24 has a bunch of cool Halloween-themed napkins and I haven’t really seen them advertised lately.
1 November 2012, 3:29 pm