1. There's a $1,000.00 fine for using Silly String in Hollywood on Halloween. Apparently thousands of people buy Silly String from "illegal vendors" and spray the stuff all over the place creating a huge mega-mass of silly string that is really hard to clean up and causes harm to the environment. 2. Dressing up on Halloween comes from the Celts. The Celts believed that this day was a day reserved for spirits to enter our world from their world. It was believed that because spirits don't have any "substance" they could enter whoever they wanted to on this day, so the Celts wore costumes to confuse the spirits and protect them from unwanted encounters with spirits. 3. The name "Halloween" comes from the Catholic religion: Hallowmas is a three-day Catholic holiday where saints are honored and people pray for the recently deceased. At the start of the 11th century, it was decreed by the pope that it would last from Oct. 31 (All Hallow's Eve) until Nov. 2, "All Hallow's Eve" then evolved into "All Hallow's Even," and by the 18th century it was commonly referred to as "Hallowe'en." 4. Halloween symbols aren't random: Black cats, spiders, and bats are all Halloween symbols because of their spooky history and ties to Wiccans (Witches). All three were thought to be the familiars of witches in the middle ages, and are often associated with bad luck. 5. Fears of finding poisoned candy are unfounded:One of parents' biggest fears is that their child's Halloween candy is poisoned or contains razor blades. In reality, this fear is almost entirely unfounded. There are only two known cases of poisoning, and both involved relatives, according to LiveScience. In 1970, a boy died of a heroin overdose. The investigators found it on his candy, but in a twist they later discovered the boy had accidentally consumed some of his uncle's heroin stash, and the family had sprinkled some on the candy to cover up the incident. 6. Halloween and Candy Companies influenced the decision to create Daylight Savings Time: Candy makers supposedly lobbied to extend daylight savings time into the beginning of November to get an extra hour of daylight so children could collect even more candy (thus forcing people to purchase more candy to meet the demand). They wanted it so badly that during the 1985 hearings on Daylight Savings they put candy pumpkins on the seat of every senator, according to NPR. Invented by George Renninger, a candy maker at the Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia in the 1880s, Candy Corn was originally called "butter cream candies" and "chicken feed" since back then, corn was commonly used as food for livestock (they even had a rooster on the candy boxes). 7. A full moon on Halloween is extremely rare! Though a common theme in horror movies and Halloween decorations with witches flying across the full moon, the next full moon on Halloween won't occur until 2020. The most recent Halloween full moon was back in 2001, and before that it was in 1955. 8. Halloween is the Witches New Year Celebration: Halloween originates from a Celtic tradition called Samhain, a festival that marked the end of the Celtic calendar year in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. They believed it was a time that spirits or fairies could enter our world, and the Celts would put out treats and food to placate the spirits — sometimes, a place at the table was even set for the souls of the dead. Wiccans (Witches) still celebrate Samhain as a New Year celebration today. 9. Trick or Treating has been around a LONG time! Trick-or-treating was brought to America by the Irish and became popular during the early 20th century, but died out during WWII when sugar was rationed. After the rationing ended in 1947, children's magazine "Jack and Jill," radio program "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," and the "Peanuts" comic strip all helped to re-popularize the tradition of dressing up in costumes and asking for candy from door-to-door. 10. We should carve turnips instead of pumpkins: The origin of Jack-O-Lanterns comes from a Celtic folk tale of a stingy farmer named Jack who would constantly play tricks on the devil. The devil responded by forcing him to wander purgatory with only a burning lump of coal from Hades. 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. 11. The cartoon Charlie Brown was the key to making Halloween and Trick or Treating popular again! 12. Halloween is the second most commercial holiday in the year! The candy industry in America rakes in an average of $2 billion annually thanks to Halloween (that's 90 million pounds of chocolate).
Americans spend an estimated $6 billion on Halloween annually, including candy, costumes, and decorations, according to History.com. (The most commercial holiday in the U.S. is obviously Christmas.) I hope this gets you in the holiday spirit!
8 Comments
Meirah
10/24/2016 03:45:57 pm
WOW, that is awesome!!!!!!!!!
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Meirah
10/24/2016 03:51:47 pm
You said 13 facts at the beginning, but there are only 12. Please explain.
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Meirah
10/24/2016 03:52:11 pm
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zaya
10/24/2016 06:02:51 pm
I almsot didn't believe half of this because some of them are just crazy?
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Katelyn Ashton
10/24/2016 06:13:33 pm
There are only 12 facts where's number 13?🎃🍬🍫
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jenna
10/24/2016 07:24:00 pm
where is 13 there is only 12. but still those 12 were awesome!
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Emmalee
10/24/2016 08:28:12 pm
Halloween has a crazy back story!
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braxton
10/25/2016 07:37:01 am
I love science
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |