Happy Halloween
Origin of Halloween ◆ Originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain
2,000 years ago
◆ This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death.
◆ On the night of October 31 the Celts believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth
Pumpkins◆ Jack o'lanterns also originated from the Celts
◆ On All Hallows Eve, the ancient Celtic culture would carve turnips and place a hot ember inside to
ward off evil spirits
Punkins
Costumes
◆ During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes
◆ This is why we wear costumes today
Classic Costumes
Scaring◆ Because the Celts associated All Hallows Eve
with human death we evolved Halloween to be a scary holiday
◆ We celebrate this by decorating our house, watching scary movies, and going “haunted” houses
Movies
Trick-or-Treating
◆ Halloween custom of trick-or-treating on October
31 and the Medieval practices of "mumming" and
"going a-souling" on All Souls Day. Mumming
took the form of souling entailed going door to
door and offering prayers for the dead in
exchange for treats, particularly "soul cakes."
Candy
Friday 13th◆ According to historians, on Friday, October
13th, 1307;King Philip IV of France ordered the killing of thousands of the Knights Templar on accusations of heresy, resulting in the executions of more than a hundred of the Crusades warriors.
◆ The theory of this as the superstition's origin appeared in Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code."
Friday 13th◆ The Knights Templar cross has four equal
sides,
standing for equality between male and female,
unlike the Christian cross
Spiders
Citationshttp://www.history.com/topics/halloween
http://www.history.com/topics/jack-olantern-history
http://www.history.com/topics/history-of-trick-or-treating
http://www.thetruthaboutdavinci.com/faq/october-13-friday.html