Halloween is finally coming with less than a month till this wonderful holiday. Halloween dates back over 2000 years ago of being celebrated but wasn’t actually a holiday until the 1840s. It’s time to start getting in the spirit so here’s some Halloween information. 

How Halloween Came about 

Halloween was first celebrated by the Celts at the festival of Samhain. This is how the holiday came around. It was first known as All Saints Day then All Hallows day and now it’s today’s name is Halloween. Now Halloween has brought many traditions along with it so let’s talk about how some of those came to be. First, carving pumpkins. They originally carved turnips instead of pumpkins. According to blogs.loc.gov “It is allegedly based on a legend about a man named Stingy Jack who repeatedly trapped the Devil and only let him go on the condition that Jack would never go to Hell. But when Jack died, he learned that Heaven did not want his soul either, so he was forced to wander the Earth as a ghost for eternity. The Devil gave Jack a burning lump of coal in a carved-out turnip to light his way. Locals eventually began carving scary faces into their own turnips to frighten away evil spirits’ ‘. Now overtime, people just adapted it into their own ways. Avah Holden, a student at our high school said her favorite part was getting to see all the cool costumes people come up with and the ones who make them themselves and of course the candy because I mean who doesn’t . Some people still carve scary things while some will paint pretty designs. Wearing costumes has the same concept. They didn’t want to be tortured by the spirits so they disguised themselves in scary costumes. Overtime people have increased the variety of costumes to adapt to more fun ones instead of them all being scary. I talked with Cailee Moeder who has participated in Halloween several years with some fun costumes ¨My favorite recent costume was a vampire and I also dressed up as tinkerbell when I was little . Now trick or treating is different. There are many different stories that people tell for how it came about. Some people believe the Celts put out different food items to please spirits. Another story was people who didn’t have money would go around getting food and money. Then in return I would give prayers. Hints the going door to door and asking part. Another interesting idea was kids would dress up and try to get adults to guess who they are. IF they guessed correctly, they got a prize. 

Fun Facts

Now that we have some information on the origin of Halloween, let’s get on to some interesting facts you probably didn’t know. 

• Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday after Christmas
•  Illinois produces up to five times more pumpkins than any other state.
• Candy corn was not its original name. People used to refer to it as chicken feed.
• There is a phobia that is just made for Halloween called Samhainophobia. 
• Half of children across the world prefer chocolate as candy. The other 50 percent is divided amongst other things such as gum or fruity flavored candy. 

In conclusion, Halloween is a holiday that has advanced over time. Many changes have been made but it’s had the same concepts along the way. It’s finally time where we see decorations start to appear across town as people get in the spirit for Halloween.