Halloween means hallowed or holy evening.
Halloween has it's origins in the British Isles,
and with the Celts who lived there.
They celebrated a fall festival called Samhain (SAW-win).
This festival not only celebrated the end of summer's
growing season, it also marked the beginning of the cold,
hard, lean months to come.

In the 9th century, the Catholic Church named November 1
All Saint's Day. The night before, October 31,
was known as All Hollow's Eve. The people believed
the souls of the dead came to visit their
former home on this night.

Witches and Black Cats

Legends tell of witches gathering twice a year when the
seasons changed. On April 30 - the eve of May Day and
on October 31 - All Hallow's Eve.

The witches arrived on broomsticks, to celebrate a party
hosted by the devil. Superstitions told of witches casting
spells on unsuspecting people. They changed themselves into
different forms and caused magical mischief.

If you wanted to meet a witch, you had to put your
clothes on wrong side out and you had to walk backwards
on Halloween night. Then at midnight you would see a witch.

The black cat has long been associated with witches.
Many superstitions have evolved about cats. It was believed
that witches could change into cats. Some people also
believed that cats were the spirits of the dead.

If a black cat crossed your path, you would have to
turn around and go back, if you didn't go back then bad luck would strike you.

The Jack O'Lantern

The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O'Lantern to America.
The Jack O'Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History.
As the story goes, there was a stingy drunkard of an Irish blacksmith named Jack
who played tricks on everyone...his family, his friends, and even the Devil himself.
One day, Jack tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree.
Once the Devil climbed up the apple tree,
Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of the tree.
The Devil was then unable to get down the tree.
Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he died.
Once the devil promised not to take his soul,
Jack removed the crosses and let the Devil down.

Many years later, when Jack finally died, he went to the
pearly gates of Heaven and was told by Saint Peter that he was too mean and
too cruel and had led a miserable and worthless life on earth.
He was not allowed to enter heaven.
He then went down to Hell and the Devil.
The Devil kept his promise and would not allow him to enter Hell.
Now Jack was scared and had nowhere to go but to wander about
forever in the darkness between heaven and hell.
He asked the Devil how he could leave as there was no light.
The Devil tossed him an ember from the flames of Hell to help him light his way.
Jack placed the ember in a hollowed out Turnip, one of his favorite foods which
he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one.
From that day onward, Jack roamed the earth without a resting place,
lighting his way as he went with his "Jack O'Lantern".

On all Hallow's eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets.
They placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Jack away.
These were the original Jack O'Lanterns.
In the 1800's a couple of waves of Irish immigrants came to America.
The Irish immigrants quickly discovered that Pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve out.
So they used pumpkins for Jack O'Lanterns.

Trick or treat, Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat !!!

The history of Trick Or Treating can be traced back to the early
celebrations of All Soul's Day in Britain. The poor would go begging and the
housewives would give them special treats called soulcakes. This was called
"going-a-souling", and the soulers would promise to say a prayer for the dead.

Over time the custom changed and the town's children became the
beggars. As they went from house to house they would be given apples, buns, and money.

During the Pioneer days of the American West, the housewives would
give the children candy to keep from being tricked.
The children would shout "Trick or Treat!".

Halloween Superstitions

If a black cat crosses your path, it is bad luck.
If a white cat crosses your path, it is good luck.

If a candle flame turns blue it means a ghost is near.

Ring a bell to scare evil spirits away.

Before sunset on Halloween to keep away evil,
walk around your house counterclockwise backwards three times.

If you see a spider on Halloween, it could be
the spirit of a dead loved one who is watching you.

To prevent ghosts coming into the house at Halloween,
bury animal bones or a picture of an animal near the doorway.

Knocking on wood keeps evil away.

A person born on Halloween can see and talk to spirits.

Recipe For Witches Cauldron Stew
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Macbeth - William Shakespear

YUM!!! Doesn't that sound good!?! (Except, of course, for the
tongue of DOG! We didn't like to see that listed as an ingredient!)

Would you like to see some more Halloween Recipes?
The garlic recipes are great tasting and they keep the vampires away!
(Garlic really does keep vampires away, we know it's true because we eat lots of garlic
and there are no vampires in our house!)

Click on the camera below to go to our Halloween Picture Gallery

We hope you enjoyed our Halloween Page, come back and see us again.
We also have our own web pages
click on our names (below) if you'd like to see them.
Love, Lizzie, Honey.and Daisy.