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Where Did Halloween Come From? 🎃
Morning Ghosts and Ghouls!
Happy Halloween everyone!
I guess it's that time of year again…
The only time of year it's acceptable for kids to accept candy from strangers lol!
But where did this whole Halloween thing come from, anyway?
For that, we gotta go back like 2000 years…
At the time, in Western Europe, there was this group of people called the Celts.
Every year these people had this festival thing called Samhain!
It took place on November 1st, marking the start of their new year.
The celts believed that on the night of October 31st (the day before Samhain) it was kind of a transitionary period, where the separation between the world of the living and the world of the dead was at its thinnest.
This meant spirits of the dead were allowed to wander about in the human world.
Just for that night.
They would all stand around a bonfire and dress up in elaborate costumes hoping the dead spirits wouldn't recognise them and take them to the spirit world.
Sounds fun.
A little while later in the 7th century the Catholic church was busy converting non-catholic holidays into Catholic holidays, you know just cause they could.
They renamed the Celtic festival of Samhain on November 1st to All Saints Day, and the night before they named All Hallows Eve.
That’s where we get the name Hallo-ween!
After like a thousand years or so, kids in Scotland and Ireland started going door to door on All Hallows Eve dressed up in costumes singing and reciting poetry in exchange for treats.
Sound familiar?
This idea then slowly made its way to the United States as Scottish and Irish immigrants brought over their traditions.
And once supermarkets realized how much money they could make selling candy and costumes every year we became hooked on Halloween!
Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈
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