Happy Halloween Weekend!

Happy Trick or Tweet Day!!!!  I am so excited to be a part of True Femme and to get to participate in the TrickorTweet party!  I did not want my hashtag to be too hard to find, you don't have to go digging in old posts to find it.

I thought I would share my 6 year old's favorite Halloween joke with you:

Q: Why did the skeleton not want to go to the sleepover?
A:  Because he had no BODY to go with!

And here is some fascinating information about Halloween for you!

Halloween's Origins
(based on an article at history.com)


Samhain
Halloween traces its identifiable 0roots back to the ancient Celts. They celebrated the festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in) on October 31, when they believed ghosts returned to walk among us.  Celts thought that this day assisted the Druids, the celtic priests, in divining the future. The Celts were totally dependent on the earth, and the Druids' prophecies were a great source of direction for them. The prophecies from the Druids provided much comfort during the long, dark winter. The Celts celebrated their new year on November first, it celebrated harvest time, and it also heralded the beginning of winter, the time of year when many people died of starvation or from the effects of the cold. 

During Samhain, the Druids erected huge bonfires, and the Celts came together in their communities to burn animals and crops as sacrifices to the Celtic gods and goddesses, wore costumes, and played at telling fortunes.  After the festivities, they lit torches from the sacred bonfire and carried them home to light their own fireplaces, another act of protection from the gods and goddesses.

Feralia and Pomona
Over the next several decades, two Roman festivals began to take root as Rome conquered Celtic lands. Along with the traditions of Samhain, the celebration of Rome's festival hnoring Feralia marked  the passing of departed souls.  A festival that honored Pomona, a Roman goddess whose symbol was the apple, likely explains the "bobbing" for apples tradition that we keep alive today.

The Roman Church
November 1 was declared All Saints' Day in the 7th century, honoring both saints and martyrs. The pope was probably trying to replace the Celtic festivals with a church-sanctioned holy day. The celebration was also called All-hallows, and thus the night before was called All-hallows Eve. Eventually, it morphed into Halloween. Later, in the eleventh century, the Roman church declared November 2 All Souls' Day. It was celebrated much like Samhain:  bonfires, parades, and wearing costumes like saints, angels, and demons.

Halloween In America
Colonial times:  Celebrating harvesttime with "play parties" where people shared stories of the dead, tell fortunes, sing, and dance.
1800-1850: Annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.
1850-1900:  New immigrants brought Irish and English traditions, dressing up in costumes and going house to house asking for food or money, the ancestor of today's "trick-or-treating". It started to become a holiday more about get-togethers and a feeling of community than about ghosts and witchcraft.
1920-1950:  Trick-or-treating was revived. It was a relatively inexpensive way for communities  to participate in the celebrating of Halloween. Families believed they could cut down on pranks being played on them by giving neighborhood children treats.
And finally.... Americans today spend an estimated $6.9 billion on Halloween, making it second only to Christmas in holiday spending.

Finally, here is a blogthings quiz I took yesterday, related to Halloween.  I think all my blog subscribers are treats too!:

You Are a Treat

As a kid, you didn't cause too much trouble, and the adults adored you. Now that you've grown up, not much has changed. You know that a little sugar is the way to get what you want in life, and you are as sweet as they come. You like to make things better in the world, and you don't mind following rules... no matter how silly they may seem. You are a truly good person, and there's very few of you in the world. Anyone who knows you is blessed!

http://blogthings.com/areyouatrickoratreatquiz/