Over recent years Halloween has become a fun event on a kid’s calendar. A chance to dress up, beg for lollies and decorate things in cobwebs… what’s not to love! But Halloween has its roots in some pretty bizarre traditions. Here are 10 freaky facts about Halloween to get you in the spooky mood.
- Dating back over 2,000 years Halloween is one of the oldest traditions in the world. The last day of the Celtic calendar, it was originally a pagan holiday honouring the dead called ‘Samhain. The Celts believed that on this day the ghosts of the dead roamed Earth.
- Jack o’ Lanterns were originally hollowed-out turnips with candles places inside to keep away spirits and ghosts that roamed on Samhain.
- Trick or treating evolved from the European practice of ‘mumming’, where the poor would go from door to door to perform plays, songs and dances in exchange for treats.
- Earlier versions of Trick or Treating can also be found in the Middle Ages, when the poor used to dress up in costumes and go from door to door begging for money and food. In exchange for prayers.
- It is believed that bobbing for apples originated from the roman harvest festival that honours the goddess of fruit trees – Pomona.
- Scared of Halloween? You might have Samhainophobia.
- Tradition says that if see a spider on Halloween it is the spirit of a loved one watching over you.
- Pranks were added to trick or treating in the 1930s.
- In some parts of Ireland, people played fortune-telling games in which they would predict who they would marry.
- In the English dictionary there are no words that rhyme with either orange or pumpkin.
Do you know any freaky facts about Halloween? Send them into us!
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