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All You Should Know About Halloween

Halloween is a season of the little ghosts and goblins to take to the streets, asking for candy and scaring one another in a silly, childhood way. Spooky stories are...

Halloween is a season of the little ghosts and goblins to take to the streets, asking for candy and scaring one another in a silly, childhood way. Spooky stories are told around fires, scary movies appear in theatres and pumpkins are expertly (and not-so-expertly) carved into jack-o'-lanterns. Amid all the commercialism, haunted houses and bogus warnings about razors in apples, the true meaning of Halloween is overlooked. Yet Halloween is much more than just costumes and candy; in fact, the holiday has a rich and interesting history. Let us look at some of the aspects that are long lost with time about Halloween.

Origin

Halloween, also known as All Hallows' Eve, Allhalloween and All Saints Eve can be traced back about 2,000 years to a pre-Christian Celtic festival held on November 1st called Samhain (pronounced "sah-win"), which means "summer's end" in Gaelic, according to the Indo-European Etymological Dictionaries. People of that time believed that the night before Samhain (October 31st), the dead returned as ghosts. In order to keep the ghosts and souls at bay, people left food and wine outside their homes. Eventually in the 8th century, the Christian Church Samhain turned to All Saints Day or All Hallows. Hence, the night before became All Hallow's Eve. The festival is celebrated in most of the countries all over the world by dressing up in costumes. Earlier it being more of a scary celebrations when people left their homes dressed up as ghosts to trick the actual ghosts; now the day is more of a fun and frolic celebrated by the kids asking for'trick or treat'.

Trick or Treat

On November 2nd which is celebrated as All Soul's Day, the needy people would beg for pastries called as Soul Cakes and in return, they would pray for the family's deceased members. This was called as "Souling". In the medieval Halloween traditions of "Guising", young people would ask for food, money, wine and other offerings dressed up in costumes. This tradition was revived or improvised by the Irish and Scottish immigrants in the 19th century, which hence called "Trick or Treating". Earlier'tricks' were more prominent but eventually'treats' or candies became a ritual. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.

Jack-o'-lantern

According to Wikipedia- "A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved pumpkin, or turnip, associated with the holiday of Halloween and named after the phenomenon of strange light flickering over peat bogs, called "will-o'-the-wisp" or "jack-o'-lantern". With these lit pumpkins as a common sighting at every doorstep; it has become an integral part where the top of the pumpkin is cut off to form a lid and the inside is scooped out. Then an image is carved out on the same in form of a monstrous or comical expose the hollow interior. Then a candle is lit inside the carved out pumpkin to make it look scary or comical. The origin of the jack-o'lantern is not certain; however the uses of various vegetables like gourds and more have been seen since 10,000 years ago.

Costumes

Costumes have been one of the most important parts of the Halloween celebration where people dressed in supernatural figures like ghosts, witches, cartoon characters, vampires and more go door to door asking for treats. Both men and women dress up for the occasions with the help of options available at online stores. With Halloween just round the corner, it's time to start the preparations by making purchases online to get set in the festive mood. If you seek to get the perfect men's costume underwear this season; check out the men's underwear online store with affordable yet fancy options. Liked This? You'll Like These Too:
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