Halloween
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| Location | all over the world on October 31st |
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| Map | |
| Countries | USA, Britain, Canada |
Halloween comes from the ancient Celtic harvest festival Samhain ~ a time when people believed the spirits of the dead roamed the earth and crossed over into the other world. People would light large bonfires to help the people find their way and make the journey.
The Celt traditions remain to this day. Halloween is celebrated with pumpkins, costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating. People put out food and treats for roaming spirits and creatures and children dress up as these creatures to receive candy and other goodies.
Since Halloween happens at Harvest time, a lot of harvest customs have also become part of Halloween. People pick apples, bob for apples, decorate pumpkins and gourds, go on hayrides, etc. People also decorate houses and buildings with ghosts, black cats, witches, pumpkins, and more. People and children dress up in all sorts of costumes and go to Halloween parties, trick-or-treating, participate in Halloween parades, listen to scary stories, visit haunted houses, play Halloween games, put on Halloween plays, sing Halloween songs, and more. Some people even dress up their pets.
Some children also trick-or-treat for UNICEF, an organization which helps poor children around the world.
Halloween became popular in the United States in the early 1800s, when Scottish and Irish introduced the traditions of lighting jack-o-lanterns, and bobbing for apples.
The English legend of Jack of the Lantern is a fascinating story explaining why we carve pumpkins. The legend tells a man named Jack who had died, but was unable to cross over into the next world. He was doomed to roam the earth at night forever. Jack carved a large turnip and put a lit coal inside ~ so he could see his way. This lit turnip became his lantern. Today in many places people carve turnips, as well as pumpkins.
Halloween is celebrated by children and adults around the world, but especially in the US, Canada, and the British Isles.
QRCodes, globokodes, Game Pieces & Clues ~(Flickr keyword tag): qrhalloween
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These are the related items for this page, by type:
| Art | ||
|---|---|---|
| Books | Pumpkin: A Super Food, Pumpkin Lovers Cookbook, The Perfect Pumpkin, Extreme Pumpkin Carving, Great Little Pumpkin Cookbook, Extreme Pumpkins: Diabolical Do-It-Yourself Designs | |
| Fiction for Kids | Boogie Bones, Boogie Knights, One Witch, Vunce upon a Time, Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin Heads, Pumpkin Eye, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Biggest Pumpkin Ever | |
| Picture Books | ||
| Nonfiction for Kids | ||
| Creative Chaos | Pumpkin Stroll | |
| Great Foods | ||
| How-tos | How to Make a Great Pumpkin | |
| Media | ||
| Nature | Pumpkins, Owls | |
| Notable Places | ||
| Objects of Note | Jack o Lanterns | |
| People | ||
| Quotes | ||
| Recipes | Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Muffins, Pumpkin Pudding Cake, Pumpkin Cheese Cake, Pumpkin Chiffon Pie, Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Ice Cream, Pumpkin Fritters, Frosty Pumpkin Pie, New England Pumpkin Pudding, Frozen Pumpkin Pie, New England Pumpkin Pudding, Magic Pumpkin Cake | |
| Topics | Halloween Costumes, Haunted Houses, Black Cats, Witches, Celts, Bats | |
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