Trick or treat: Interesting facts to know about why October 31 is also the night of witches - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Trick or treat: Interesting facts to know about why October 31 is also the night of witches

Hindustan Times, Delhi | ByNeharika Prakash
Oct 31, 2019 07:21 AM IST

For kids, Halloween is an opportunity to stock up candies while for others it is a chance to party wearing stupefying costumes.

Halloween is like a cultural mash-up. It is also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Eve and Hallowe’en, which is a contraction of Hallows’ Even or Hallows’ Evening. People across the globe irrespective of their caste, creed or colour like to celebrate the festival. For kids, it is an oppourtunity to stock up candies while for others it is a chance to party wearing stupefying costumes.

Halloween is like a cultural mash-up.(Unsplash)
Halloween is like a cultural mash-up.(Unsplash)

But the festival of Halloween has been celebrated in all ages it seems and over the years the traditions got transformed. Here are a few interesting facts about Halloween that will make you raise your eye brows.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

The “bon” in bonfire is for bones

During Samhain, the festival celebrated to mark the end of the harvest period for Gaels, priests lit large fires to represent the sun returning after the hard winter. Then, they used to throw the bones of cattle into the flames, creating a bone-fire.

ALSO READ: Spooky short tales to spike up the horror quotient this Halloween

Dressing up in costumes was once a way to hide from ghosts

The tradition originated as a way for the Celtic and other European people to hide from the spirits who returned at this time of year. People used to wear masks when they left their homes after dark, so the ghosts would think they were fellow spirits. Also to debar ghosts from entering their houses, people would place bowls of food outside to make them happy.

The Jack-o-lanterns were originally carved into turnips

In a traditional Celtic story, a man named Jack tricked the Devil, so after Jack died the Devil made him roam the night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put that burning coal in a carved-out turnip, a common vegetable there, and became known as Jack of the Lantern. Later, Scottish and Irish people would carve their own versions of Jack’s lantern with scary faces and place them near windows or doors to frighten away Jack and other evil spirits. The native pumpkin was more available than turnips in America so the immigrants used pumpkins, and today’s jack-o-lanterns were born.

The practice trick-or-treating evolved from the medieval custom of ‘souling’ in England

During All Souls’ Day celebrations, poor people used to knock on doors asking for food in exchange for saying prayers for the home’s dead relatives.

Halloween has a romantic history

Scottish girls hung wet sheets in front of fire on the holiday to see images of their future husband. Young girls used to also peel an apple, often at midnight, in one strip and throw it over their shoulder. The peeled strip was to land in the shape of the first letter of her future husband’s name. In colonial America, Halloween’s bobbing for apples was a fortune-telling game: the first person to get the apple without using his or her hands would be the first to marry.

 

Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter

Oscars 2024: From Nominees to Red Carpet Glam! Get Exclusive Coverage on HT. Click Here

Catch your daily dose of Fashion, Health, Festivals, Travel, Relationship, Recipe and all the other Latest Lifestyle News on Hindustan Times Website and APPs
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Friday, March 29, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On