If you were celebrating Halloween yesterday, you may have enjoyed dressing up as one of your favourite characters, trick or treating or carving pumpkins. But did you know that the holiday is over 2000 years old? It began its life as a Celtic festival named ‘Samhain’, meaning ‘summer’s end’ and was thought to be the day that spirits were able to cross into the land of the living. As a little ‘Happy Halloween’ from Wensleydale School, we thought we’d share our favourite facts about the night.
1. The act of carving pumpkins originates from an Irish folklore about a man named ‘Stingy Jack’ who succeeded in tricking the devil. According to the tale, he was then forced to walk the Earth with only a hollowed turnip with a lit coal inside (we originally carved turnips, not pumpkins).
2. A form of trick or treating has been around since the Middle Ages. Children would go from door to door dressed as ghosts and demons to perform songs or scenes from plays in exchange for food.
3. Last year, the most common Halloween costumes were: a witch, a vampire, a cat, Batman, and a ghost.
4. The association between Halloween and the colours black and orange also stems from the Celtics, with black representing death, and orange representing the autumn harvest.
We hope you enjoyed these spooky facts and have a great start to your November!
