spooky!

Fun Facts About Halloween

In America, Halloween is a major holiday celebrated by millions of adults and children. This spooky holiday is best known for costumes, trick-or-treating, parties and scary movies. And with its long history, there are many interesting and fun facts about Halloween.

Halloween History

In American pioneer days, Halloween was a harvest festival with corn-popping, taffy pulls and hayrides. The addition of ghosts, witches and trick-or-treating came about over time until the holiday evolved to the creepy celebration we have today.
Many modern Halloween traditions are rooted in Celtic history and came to America with Irish immigrants in the late nineteenth century. Although Halloween traditions have also evolved from other places including Roman, Catholic and Native American cultures.
Ancient celts believed that All Hallows Eve, or what we call Halloween, was a time when the ghosts walked among the living. They wore costumes so ghosts and ghouls would not recognize them as humans.

Pumpkins

Pumpkins originated in Central America 9,000 years ago and may be America’s oldest known vegetables. They were brought back to Europe by early American explorers, where they quickly became popular.
Though pumpkins are usually orange, they can also be white, blue or green. Unusually colored pumpkins can make interesting, eye-catching Jack-o-lanterns.
Carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns traces back to an Irish tradition; in Ireland, however, they were originally carved from turnips, beets or large potatoes.

Witches

The word “witch” comes from the Old Saxon word “wica,” which means “wise one.” Witches were originally respected for their knowledge of medicinal herbs and charms, but claims of spell-casting and trouble-making were spread to discredit them.
Black cats were thought to be familiars that protected witches’ magical powers. They were also believed to help witches perform spells or even be the witches themselves in disguise.

Halloween Monsters

Vampires are popular in fiction, but there are also vampire societies and clubs where people celebrate vampirism and actually believe that they are vampires.
The name “Frankenstein” is often given to a popular monster from Mary Shelley’s book of the same name. However, in the book, Frankenstein is the name of the mad scientist, not the monster he created.
Werewolf legends show up in many different cultures around the world. It was once thought that werewolves could be recognized in their human forms by traits like a unibrow, excessive body hair and an unusually long third finger.

Halloween Candy

On average, three quarters of the candy brought home by trick-or-treaters is some form of chocolate. Lollipops and hard candy are the next most popular with those who hand out candy.
According to the National Confectioners Association, 35 million pounds of candy corn is produced in a single year. Though candy corn is most commonly found during Halloween, some manufacturers make candy corn in different color schemes for other major holidays.