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| Halloween is celebrated on October 31 every year. The day right after it is "All Saints Day", the Catholic holiday in rememberence of all the saints and departed. It is believed that it is the one day of the year where the departed can come back from the dead very easily, or that the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. Everbody used to leave an offering of foods and other items on their porch before locking the door that night. The did this to please any dead people they had angered so that they wouldn't be a victim or revenge. The jack-o-lantern actually represents the saying, "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" (you know, there are normally monkeys representing this) anyway, the original jack-o-lantern only had eyes, ears, and a mouth. In other cultures, Halloween is called Samhain (pronounced sow-en), the Celtic New Year and a Pagan holiday. The Celts believed that spirits would attempt to posses the living and thus made themselves looked as scary as possible and paraded the streets making a lot of noise after they had put out their fires. That must've looked funny. Fun things to do on Halloween: 1) I read this in a book I have at home. People used to do this at Halloween parties. My friends and I tried it last year. It seemed to work... Ok, this is for getting an answer to a question you have. All you need is a book, a candle, either matches or a flame gun thingy (the little gun shaped thing is better, if you use matches, you'll need a couple), and any book that the hostess choses. Have the person who wants to ask a question hold up the light candle (outside!) and ask it silently to himself/herself. Next, have the person who asked the question blow out the candle. The hostess should now hand the guest a book of the hostess's chosing, any will do. The inquier should open the book to any page and put her finger down anywhere there is writing. The candle should be re-light by the hostess and the guest should start at the beginning of the sentence and read the next 8 lines. This should in some way answer his/her question, whether symbolic or not. When it is the hostess's turn, anyone can light the candle for him/her. 2) Try and use a quija board! 3) Why not have an old fashioned Halloween party? You can bob for apples, have a bonfire, etc. As a bonus, you can wear cool old-fashioned clothes and use words like "thy." 4) Make your own caramel corn. 5) Visit somewhere fun on Halloween, like Salem Mass. or New Orleans, Louisana. There'll be tons of fun (and sometimes) scary places to go and see. 6) Throw a murder mystery party. 7) Ever heard of Los Dios de Los Muertes? It's the Spanish Halloween. They make these cool, normally skull-shaped things out of sugar, food coloring, and water. Make a paste out of them and have fun! 8) Carving a pumpkin? Save the seeds and roast them in the oven. What do you do on Halloween? If you tell us your recipes, games, or any traditions, we'll post them here! Click here to send! |
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| Some graphics and background courtesy of Pat's web graphics. www.patswebgraphics.com |