Many people think that Halloween is a devil worshipping holiday celebrated by people who
dont believe in God, but the truth is that Halloween really has its basic origins in the Catholic Church. Halloween means All Saints Eve or All Hallows Eve.
All Saints Day is a religious holiday observed by the Catholic Church and set aside for worship of all the saints in heaven. They used to consider it with all solemnity as one of the most
The American origin of Halloween extends further from the Celts celebration of Samhain
(pronounced sow in) which is a Druidic festival made to celebrate the end of the harvest. As
with a lot of Celtic lore, faeries were thought to be extremely active at this time as they ushered in the winter.
Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the
living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrate Samhain. It
was on this day that they believe the ghosts of the dead returned to Earth causing trouble and
damaging crops.
Celts felts that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids Celtic priests to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the natural
world, which could be quite volatile, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and
direction during the long, dark winger.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes typically consisting of animal heads and skins
and they tried to tell each others fortunes. They would build huge sacred bonfires where
people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
When the celebration was over, they re-lit the fires in their hearths which they had put out earlier that evening. The fires would be re-lit with flame from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
Ireland
The belief is that Halloween originated in Ireland and, as weve said previously, was known as
Samhain Night. This festival celebrated the end of the harvest season and ushered in the
winter.
They spent the evening of October 31st dressed in costume celebrating around bonfires and
paying homage to the Druid Gods that were hoped to keep them safe throughout the long
winter.
Today, in Ireland, adults and children dress up as creatures from the underworld. The
costumes range from ghosts, ghouls, zombies, witches, and goblins. They light bonfires and
enjoy spectacular fireworks displays even if in some places fireworks are illegal.
The children walk around knocking on the doors of neighbors to gather fruit, nuts, and sweets
for the Halloween festival. At one time, salt was sprinkled in the hair of the children by their neighbors in order to protect them from evil spirits.
Houses are decorated with carved pumpkins or turnips that sports scary faces and a candle is
placed inside the hollowed out fruit to light and decorate. The Irish also decorate their homes to celebrate this holiday.
Many people still bake a traditional Halloween cake called a barmbrack which is fruit bread.
Each member of the family gets a slice of the cake. Great interest is taken in this tradition as there is a piece of rag, a coin, and a ring in each cake.
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How To Make Your Own Spooky Halloween Crafts
If you get the rag, then your financial future is doubtful. If you get the coin, you can look forward to a prosperous year. Finally, if you are lucky enough to get the ring, it is a sure sign of
impending romance or continued happiness.
Halloween Crafts
Even if youve never been much of a crafter, you can still make some great Halloween crafts
that you can use to decorate your home and make the holiday festive. Halloween evokes
images of spooky ghosts, black cats, evil witches, and flying bats. You can recreate many of
these images with fun and easy crafts.
The best part about making Halloween crafts is that it is something that the whole family can do and it can give you some time to spend together. Many Halloween crafts can be made by
almost any age child. Even your toddler can help out and learn new skills like cutting, drawing, and coloring.
We are going to give you a whole bunch of ideas for Halloween crafts. Many of them can be
made out of common household items which means you wont have to spend a lot of money on
craft supplies. Believe it or not, you can turn an ordinary plastic grocery bag into a spooky ghost and an egg carton into an ominous bat.
Of course, you will need a few crafting supplies from the store. We suggest keeping some on
hand for future craft projects as well. Here is a list of basic craft items that are good to keep a supply of:
Various colors craft paint black, white, green,
orange, etc.
Pipe cleaners
Googly eyes
Hole punch
Fun foam in various colors
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Of course, most households will have standard craft supplies like scissors, tape, and glue. If
you dont have these, though, you will need them as well. If you find that you will really get into crafting, this list will grow, but this is enough to get your started.
One thing we want to tell you about crafting with kids is to be patient with them and dont expect perfection from their work. The whole idea of crafting with kids is to spend time with them and have fun.
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Bats And Spiders And Such
Egg Carton Bat
For this craft, you will need a clean egg carton. You can use either a Styrofoam or a cardboard one, but if you want to hang your bats outside from the trees, the Styrofoam ones will be better.
Cut out three of the egg cups keeping them attached together. Cut out the front and back of the two outside cups. This will form your bats wings. Paint your bat black with craft paint. Again, if you want to hang them outside, you will want to use waterproof paint. Once the paint is dry, you can paint on a scary face with white paint or glue on googly eyes.
Use a pair of scissors to poke a hole in the top of the middle cup. Take a piece of string and
make a knot large enough that it wont pull through the hole and put the string in the hole. Now you have your egg carton bat ready to be hung from wherever you want. Make several of these
for maximum spookiness!
Egg Carton Spider
You can also use an egg carton to make a spider. For this craft, you just need to cut out one of the egg cups from the carton. Paint your spider black and wait for it to dry. Paint on eyes or
glue googly eyes on him.
Use the tip of pointed scissors to make four small holes on each side of the egg cup. Insert a
pipe cleaner in each of the holes and twist the pipe cleaners from the inside to form a knot of sorts so the pipe cleaners do not come out of the holes. Then bend the legs so your spider will stand on his own.
Spooky Ghosts
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Balloon Ghost