Did you know...?
Halloween seems to have its roots in ancient Celtic culture. The Celts were a group of people that lived in what is now Ireland several thousand years ago. They were farmers, and their original Halloween festivals were a celebration of summer harvest and a preparation for the difficult, cold winter ahead.
Trick or Treating is thought to have begun during All Souls' Day celebrations several hundred years ago in England. This holiday honored the lives of those who had died. The poor would go from house to house offering to pray for the dead in exchange for money or 'soul cakes', a type of hot cross bun.
Hundreds of years ago in Scotland and Ireland, children would carve Jack-O-Lanterns from turnips. Turnips were the major food crop in the region. The children would hollow out the vegetables, carve faces and place a candle inside. Years later when Europeans migrated to the United States, they discovered the abundance of pumpkins, and the present day Jack-O-Lanterns were born.
In the USA, more candy is sold around Halloween than at any other time. Candy sales in October outnumber Easter, Christmas, and Valentine's Day sales of candy.
Halloween comes in third behind Christmas and New Year's Eve in the number of parties hosted.
More funny greeting cards are sold for Halloween than any other holiday. Twenty-five million cards are sold annually.
Happy Halloween
