Halloween and Christmas are my absolute favorite holidays but I feel like there is little known about the origins of Halloween. In this post I want to share a little festive trivia on All Hallows Eve in hopes that you will learn a little more about the spooky festivities.
Halloween Trivia Facts
Trick or Treating Origins
This fun activity can be traced back to the Middle Ages when it was said that the souls of the dead would roam the earth on the night of Samhain. The towns people would dress as spirits on this night in efforts to fool the real spirits among them. This was called guising. Later, as the Catholic Church began banning pagan religions, they kept the act of guising on All Saints Day, which falls the day after Halloween, in which the poor children and adults would go door to door dressed as angels or spirits on Hallowsmas begging for food or money in exchange for songs and prayers.
Michael Myers Mask is Really a William Shatner Mask
The now multi billion dollar Halloween franchise started as a movie on a budget and therefore the crew was tasked to find the cheapest mask that they could find. The crew came back with a $2 Star Trek William Shatner mask in which they spray painted white and reshaped the eye holes. I am willing to bet that ole’ Michael has gotten an upgrade in the newest Halloween film now that he is a Hollywood star!
Show me the Money Honey
Did you know that Halloween brings in the second most money to the national economy when it comes to holidays behind Christmas? Americans spend around $6.9 billion annually on the spooky festivities.
Des Moines and The Little Beggars
So Des Moines, IA has a tradition only celebrated in their local town, Beggars Night. Similar to the christian tradition on All Saints Day the townspeople of Des Moines has coined their local holiday for different reasons. On Beggars night the little witches and warlocks hit the streets to work hard for the treats! They are required to sing a song, tell a joke, or to perform for candy. This holiday was created to keep the very littlest of witches safe from the bigger goblins that roam on Halloween night. I have been told that the jokes are super cute but hella corny! Dad’s this night is for you!
A Halloween Fact About ME
I am super sensitive to the paranormal. I have been acquainted with multiple experiences throughout my life in which I am approached by something or someone that is not in human form. Weird huh? I don’t research in to it because I don’t want to further open the door, but it is a fact! My favorite activity on Halloween is to visit the city’s largest cemetery for ghostly rides and hauntings. When normally a cemetery seems pretty eerie and scary to me on every other eve, I feel pretty at ease on Halloween night. For some reason, in which I think I know why, I feel like there are triple the amount of folks (or spirits) celebrating joyfully in disguise.
