Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween...


 Some Quick Historical Points about Halloween:

• "It originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. "
• "Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies."
• "By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country."
• "Borrowing from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition."
• "In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft."
• "By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide Halloween parties as the featured entertainment."
• "Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. "
• "The American Halloween tradition of “trick-or-treating” probably dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England."
• "Today’s Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages..."

Enjoy your Day!