Meta: Fun facts surrounding Halloween from the past and now

When it comes to Halloween in America, it can pretty much be summed up in three words: “trick or treat”, that and the dentists are unbelievably happy, since, let’s just face it chocolate may come from a plant but it certainly does no favors to your teeth. Here at SirHoliday, we may have made it our mission to find the weirdest and most outlandish facts surrounding October the 31st for you to enjoy. So, sit back, relax and read on as Halloween scares you for all the right reasons.

If you have ever been afraid of Halloween, or the activities that occur during the night of the undead you could have Samhainophobia. Did you know that people initially did not use pumpkins to carve out jack o’ lanterns, no the first jack o’ lanterns were made using turnips.

Here is another fact to send chills down the spines of parent’s wallets everywhere; Halloween is the second greatest holiday in terms of expenditure, exceeded only by everybody’s favorite Christmas. I wonder if it’s the candy or the costumes that are costing more, what do you think?

For those of you who laugh at the modern day practice of Wicca by our current witches, you would not be the norm within ancient times. During ancient times witches were held in high regard and held one of their annual get-togethers on the night of Halloween, due to the sacredness of All Hallow’s Eve, as it was believed by many that the dead could cross from the afterlife into the world of the living on this night.

For those of who you have ever stood in a grocery store wondering which candy to purchase that will put a smile on all of the kids in the neighborhood’s faces and leave their parents with a sugar high of note, as vengeance for, well, whatever you like really, its Halloween mischief is mandatory. Then we recommend chocolate candy as that is what 50% of children want to see in their buckets, with only 24% wanting non-chocolate candy and a mere 10% wanting to see chewing gum being handed out. Evidently having minty fresh breath isn’t that big of a priority.

Anyone who has ever heard an owl call in the middle of the night, may have heard a story from an older member of the family, saying that when you hear an owl call it means that someone is about to die. If you haven’t, well then you missed out, however, if you have the belief originates from older times when owls were believed to be the animal forms of witches and that owls were omens of death, which were taken very seriously by communities.

The origin of our trick-or-treating tradition comes from the ancient Irish festival of Samhain, where people would place food, sweets and other delicacies out for the spirits returning from the afterlife, in order to ensure that these returning spirits would treat them with favor instead of malice.

Well, those are some of our favorite facts, be sure to check out SirHoliday for all your holiday and seasonal information.

Jack o lantern image

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/05/19/20/55/pumpkin-2327488_960_720.jpg

Owl image:

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/01/26/11/17/european-eagle-owl-2010346_960_720.jpg