Halloween – It is Fun to be Scared!
by HiGreetings.comThe line from Shakespeare's Macbeth is probably the best way to describe Halloween, though Harry Potter fans might disagree!
Halloween is celebrated in various countries on the eve of the Western Christian feast of the All Hallows' Day i.e. on October 31. It is a time of both celebration and superstition as Halloween straddle the line between the fall and winter, which also stands as a symbol of plenty and paucity as well as of life and death. Many believe that this Christianized feast has pagan roots and it was originally influenced by the ancient Celtic harvest festival of Gaelic Samhain, which includes people wearing costumes and lighting bonfires to ward off roaming spirits and ghosts.
A spooktacular Halloween!
Pope Gregory III, in the eighth century declared November 1 as the time for honoring and remembering the dead, including martyrs, saints and other faithful departed believers. It was initially named as All Hallows' Eve and later renamed as Halloween. Gradually, this celebration evolved into a secular and community-based event, where child-friendly activities like trick-or-treating became the prime attraction. Other festive activities of Halloween include spooky decorating, attending costume parties, lighting bonfires, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, visiting haunted attractions, apple bobbing, telling scary stories, playing pranks, and watching horror films.
Halloween parties are just not about games and costumes. Like any other parties, All Hallows' Eve offers a range of delicacies. Candies play a special role for this festivity as trick-or-treating is marked by kids in costume traveling from house to house to ask for treats like candy. Apart from candies, there are cookies and cupcakes. Some may even get creative with Halloween recipes and include delicacies like Forked Eyeballs, Goblin Feet, Gingerbread Skeletons and Monster Cupcakes apart from the more traditional recipes like candy apples, caramel or taffy apples, candy corn, pumpkin pie, roasted sweet corn, and barmbrack.
In addition, people also send spooky cards and gifts to the close ones. You can even send spooky Halloween ecards to friend and relatives as a party invitation. All you need to do is be creative and put on your funny hat. After all Halloween is the time for jack-o'-lanterns, costumes, masks, and trick or treat that kids and grownups can enjoy alike. However, it is recommended to maintain some safety measures to keep your little monsters safe and sound, especially when it comes to taking candies from strangers and make sure your kids are accompanies by an adult while trick-or-treating.
And remember "It's as much fun to scare as to be scared." Happy Halloween!
