Booo ! It's
Halloween ! Whether you want to scare your friend silly, trick or treat or
wish all your friends and family members a very Happy Halloween, we hope we
can help you reach out and add a little zing to your boo day ! And a very
Happy Halloween to you, from us !
Trick - Or - Treat
Halloween (All Hallow's Eve) is the beginning of Hallowtide, has been long
associated with thoughts of the dead, spirits, witches, ghosts & devils. A
popular custom on Hallowe'en is children in costumes visiting neighbor's
homes, calling out "trick or treat" and "begging" for candies or gifts to
place in their beggar's bags.
The term Halloween, and its older spelling Hallowe'en, is shortened from
All-hallow-even, as it is the evening before "All Hallows Day". In Ireland,
the name was All Hallows Eve and this name is still used by some older
people. Halloween was also sometimes called All Saints' Eve. The holiday was
a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan
traditions, until it was appropriated by Christian missionaries and given a
Christian interpretation. In Mexico November 1st and 2nd are celebrated as
the "Dia de Los Muertos" Day of the Dead. Halloween is also called Pooky
Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a
mischievous spirit.
Halloween is an observance celebrated on the night of October 31, most
notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting
sweets or money. Halloween is celebrated in much of the Western world,
though most common in the United States, Puerto Rico, Ireland, the United
Kingdom, Canada and Australia (where its popularity is increasing).
Halloween originated in Ireland as the pagan Celtic harvest festival,
Samhain. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the
tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries
have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th
century.
In Great Britain and Ireland in particular, the pagan Celts celebrated the
Day of the Dead on All Hallows Day (1st November). The spirits supposedly
rose from the dead and, in order to attract them, food was left on the
doors. To scare off the evil spirits, the Celts wore masks. When the Romans
invaded Great Britain, they embellished the tradition with their own, which
is both a celebration of the harvest and of honoring the dead. Very much
later, these traditions were transported to the United States, Canada and
Australia. In Australia it is sometimes referred to as "mischief night", by
locals. Halloween is sometimes associated with the occult. Many European
cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the
year when the spiritual world can make contact with the physical world and
when magic is most potent (e.g. Catalan mythology about witches).