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