This weekend I bought entirely too much candy. If we don’t get a small army of trick-or-treaters, I am going to have to find a way to dispose of this mountain of sugar that doesn’t involve me and my husband eating it all.
I really do love most holidays, especially those that involve decorating or dressing in festive attire. I love receiving photographs of my nieces and nephews in their adorable costumes. I loved the huge pumpkin festival I went to with my husband and in-laws (cell phone footage included here). Perhaps my favorite moment this Halloween season was seeing a tiny little daschund dog dressed in a hotdog costume at the dog park (really wish I had documented that moment).
And because I am a self-professed nerd with an insatiable need to constantly be wondering why, I got to thinking: why do we celebrate Halloween the way we do? Why do we carve pumpkins and call them Jack-o-lanterns? Why do kids dress up and go door-to-door for candy? And why do we fear the specters of black cats, the walking dead, and wart-nosed old witches? Luckily for me, a quick internet search led me to LiveScience.com and answered most of these questions. I’m including the entire article in the link below. Briefly, here is a look at how some of Halloween’s spooky and silly traditions came into existence:
Halloween may seem like it’s all about costumes and candy, but the holiday — which is relatively new to America, having only become popular in the early 1900s — has its roots in pagan beliefs. Dating back about 2,000 years, Halloween marked the Celtic New Year and was originally called Samhain, which translates to “summer’s end” in Gaelic.
Some Halloween traditions, such as carving Jack-o’-lanterns, are based on Irish folklore and have been carried on throughout the centuries, while others, such as candy corn, are more modern Halloween additions.
Read the rest of the article from LiveScience.com here.
Happy Halloween, all!
