3 Freaky Facts About Halloween

Sana Said '23 ~ October 2021

Halloween is a popular holiday among both children and adults, and why wouldn’t it be? There is candy involved! Here are three freaky facts that you may not know about Halloween.

1. Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which means “summer’s end.”

This was a celebration that marked the Celts’ new year, Nov. 1. They believed that time of year was when the veil between the living world and the dead was thinnest. As a result, they wore costumes to keep away ghosts. The Celts lived during the Iron Age, which was around 600 BCE to 43 AD, so technically Halloween has been around for about 2,000 years.

2. Women performed Halloween rituals to find a husband.

This occurred mainly in the eighteenth century. Some women would throw apple peels over their shoulders to see if their husband’s initials would appear. Other women even held a candle in front of a mirror in a dark room in the hopes that their future husband’s face would emerge. That definitely sounds weird, but who knows? Maybe it worked for some women.

3. Jack-‘o-lanterns used to be carved out of turnips, potatoes, and beets.

Jack-‘o-lanterns originate in Ireland, so carving pumpkins only became popular as more people in the United States started celebrating Halloween. It seems odd to imagine a carved turnip, but that was popular for years before pumpkins were used!

Title Photo: JillWellington, Pixabay