Happy Halloween

Did you know . . .

October 31st is the last day of the Celtic calendar.

All Hallow's Eve was originally a pagan holiday celebrating the dead.

The Celts believed that dead people roamed the streets, were not necessarily nice, so gifts were left out to pacify the evil.

Is think this is also a bad movie I watched 20 years ago.

The first jack-o-lanterns were actually carved turnips. Use of the pumpkin is a North American tradition.

The Catholic church celebrates All Saint's Day on November 1st which was created for Christians to convert pagans.

Just the one day?

It is also a public holiday in Belgium.

Of course, most kids in the U. S. go trick-or-treating, but not here. Halloween may be the most celebrated holiday second to Christmas, but not in Belgium.

One of our Flemish classmates, who is from the U.K., said when he was a child they went around singing a specific Halloween song asking for money, not candy.

Buy your own candy, I guess. I can see the logic in that.

I've mentioned before how much I love weirdly humorous greeting cards and I was thrilled to receive this one for Halloween. Apropos. It is most definitely a card I would have purchased myself :) Thank you JimA and DebB!

Happy Halloween!