1 Halloween evolved from a Celtic holiday called Samhain, celebrated at the end of summer. During this time, the division between the living and spirit worlds became thin, and spirits could wander among the living.
2 Trick-or-treating is said to get its origins from a European tradition known as All Soul’s Day. Beggars would go door to door asking for “soul cakes” and would pray for the relatives of the giver in return.
3 The idea of wearing costumes comes from Celtic and European heritage. Dressing up in costume was thought to make the wearer unrecognizable to ghosts.
4 Jack o’ lanterns derived from the Irish when they put candles inside of turnips to keep spirits and ghosts away on the Samhain holiday.
5 Consumers will spend more than $2.5 billion during Halloween.
6 Orange and black has become associated with Halloween because orange represents harvests and black represents death.
7 The world record for the fastest time to carve the face of a pumpkin is 54.72 seconds.
8 The Saxon root word for witch is “wica,” which means wise one. It was believed that witches were wise enough to predict the future.
9 Of all canned fruits and vegetables, the pumpkin has the most vitamin A — a half-cup of pumpkin juice contains more than three times the recommended daily requirement.
10 Hancock, Md., has refused to set a specific date for Halloween for more than 20 years. Their logic is if a child gets injured during trick-or-treating on a specific day, they could be considered liable for the incident.
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