Wednesday is Halloween and here are some fun facts about what has become one of the favorite holidays for young and old alike.
- Candy corn was originally he the name “Chicken Feed” because it resembled the feed most often used to fed to their livestock. It was placed on the market in the 1880s, came in a box and had a picture of a Rooster on the box.
It was mostly sold during the summer until after WWII when it became popular as a fall candy because of its colors being associated with fall colors.
- Full Moons and Halloween. You often see pictures for Halloween with witches flying in the night sky with a full moon as the backdrop but this is actually quiet rare. The last full moon on Halloween was in 2001 and that was the first once since 1955. We are predicted to have one on Halloween in 2020.
- Trick-or-Treating has been around since medieval times but not in the same fashion as today. Trick-or-treating was commonly done by children and the poor and was known as “Guising”.
They would dress up in costumes and beg for food or money in exchange for a song or dance.
- Jack-O-Lanterns comes from a Celtic folk tale of a farmer that would constantly play tricks on the devil. The devil forced him to wander purgatory with only a burning lump of coal from hell. Jack took the coal and made a lantern from a turnip, using it to guide his lost soul. The myth was brought over by Irish families fleeing the potato famine in the 1800s, and since turnips were hard to come by in the U.S., America's pumpkins were used as a substitute to guide lost souls and keep evil spirits like "Jack of the Lantern" away
- Bats are associated with Halloween because of the ancient Samhain ritual of building bonfires which would drive away insects but it attracted bats and therefore bats were connected to the ritual.
- Tainted or Poisoned Candy Parents biggest fear but its really not based on any facts. As of a couple years ago only two cases of known poisoning in candy was substantiated. One was in 1970 when a young boy accidentally found his uncles heroin supply and overdosed so the family sprinkled it on the child's candy to cover up the incident and prevent the uncle from being arrested for drug charges. The other incident was done in 1974 to a young boy named Tim O'Bryan. Tim died after his ownmfather laced his Pixy Stix with cyanide so that he could collect life insurance on the child. These are sources provided by Live Science and Smithsonian Magazine.
Popular Costumes for 2018
According to lifestyle Trends the most popular costumes for this year are as follows:
1. Deadpool 2. Nun 3. Tomb Raider 4. The Incredibles 5. Wonder Woman 6. Pennywise also known as IT 7. Eleven from Stranger Things 8. President Donald Trump 9. White Walker 10. Daenerys Targaryen 11. Bay Watch costumes 12. Haley Quinn 13. Star Wars Costumes 14. Belle from Beauty and The Beast
Have a Safe and Happy Halloween folks and remember its all in good fun.
