Spooky facts about Halloween
Time to dress up, eat candy, and celebrate unusual things. Ready for the bone-chilling Halloween facts?
WFTV News in Orlando reports nine facts about the intriguing day.
1.- Halloween descends from the celebration of Samhain (SAH-win), the Celtic New Year observed between the sunsets of Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
2.- Samhain eve, or Halloween, was considered the death of another year, and spirits were believed to walk the earth as the doorways between our world and the spirit world were open.
3.- The Celts began the Halloween tradition of wearing costumes and wore animal skin to hide from spirits. Some wore masks or blackened their faces to impersonate deceased ancestors.
4.- The disguised Celts are believed to have gone from house to house, acting silly in exchange for food and drink.
5.- Christian leaders transformed Samhain, and in the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV decreed Nov. 1 All Saints’ Day or All Hallows’ Day.
6.- The church continued the celebrations and observed the night before Samhain with bonfires, costumes, and parades, but it was all rebranded with a new name: All Hallows’ Eve, which later became “Halloween.”
7.- European immigrants brought Halloween to the United States. The celebration gained steam in the 1800s with the explosion of Irish immigration to the United States.
8.- According to History.com, the practice of decorating jack-o’-lanterns originated in Ireland, where large turnips and potatoes served as early canvasses.
9.- The name jack-o’-lantern comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack.
