There is so much out there about Halloween. Some believe it is linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which when translated roughly means summer’s end. It was believed that the veil between this world and the Otherworld became thin at this time of year, allowing spirits to pass through into this world. To ward off any harmful spirits you would wear costumes and masks.
Dressing up and going begging door to door dates back to the middle ages. Back then poor people went door to door looking for food. In return they would pray for the dead. This of course evolved to children dressing up and trick or treating for candy. In some customs the children actually perform tricks (sing a song or tell a ghost story) to earn their treats. Nowadays children say the phrase – trick or treat – and we just hand over candy. I think it would be fun to ask for a trick first before we handed over the treat.
There are tons of places to find out more on Halloween. This Wikipedia article on Halloween is really good. And of course you must check out Halloween.com.
I’m off to think about my NaNoWriMo story now.
Until next time…
Cindy
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