Halloween

I'm doing two posts today. I'm learning something new and this has everything to do with it. I'm gonna talk about Halloween for a minute. I just LOVE Halloween don't you! It is by far the best holiday. Festivals and pumpkin patches and beautiful foliage. Do you know what the origin of Halloween is? Like most holidays, yes even the christian ones, it used to be pagan. It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions originated from ancient Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain. See, Pagan. Samhain itself was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church. Some believe that Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, separate from ancient festivals like Samhain. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted places, telling scary stories and watching horror movies. In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of "All Hallows' Eve", including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, are still popular. Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes. Where did the practice of trick or treating come from? In the early days, they believed that evil spirits roamed the earth. These said spirits would try to enter living bodies because they craved life. People dressed up to hide from the spirits. Kind of creepy, but interesting. Anyways, I love this holiday. Every year, we have a "movie night". This is after the trick or treating is over. We watch Hocus Pocus. A most amazing movie that will forever stay in the heart and soul of all late 80's and early 90's kids' hearts. My family also enjoys Practical Magic. Another timeless classic. We also like The Addams Family, which not oddly enough is acceptable any time of year really! And last but CERTAINLY not least Night before Christmas. Both Halloween and Christmas acceptable. We also watch, around this time of year, Corps bride, Frankeweinie, Coraline...etc. All those creepy yet delightful movies that our kids also love. We also have a "candy tole". The candy tole is where the children dump their buckets of candy and my husband and I get to go through and take whatever pieces we want. I'm sure some of you are very familiar with this practice. These practices and traditions will live on in my family. We did them when we were kids, and we do them when we are adults and will pass them onto our kids. Not to mention the fact that Halloween is the beginning of the "holiday season" in my book and everything is awesome!