As you get ready to Trick-or-Treat, here are some Halloween Fun Facts to curdle your blood, tingle your spine and otherwise get you in a properly macabre mood:
* Halloween is celebrated on October 31st as this was the last day of the ancient Celtic calendar. The Celts believed that, on this, the night before their New Year’s Day (called "Samhain" but pronounced "sow-in,") spirits of the dead roamed the earth looking to commune with the living. To avoid the spirits' wrath, the Celts would dress in bizarre costumes to appear less human.
* When Christianity came to Ireland, the Church tried to co-opt the popular Samhain holiday by replacing it with its newly minted "All Saints Day," a.k.a. "All Hallow’s Day." But the ancient tradition held on. And thus did "All Hallow’s Eve" become the modern "Halloween."
* The "Jack-O-Lantern" comes from an old Irish myth about a stingy fellow who, not allowed to enter either Heaven or Hell, forever roamed the earth guided by a glowing piece of coal set in a hollowed-out turnip. When the Irish came to America in the 1840s to escape the Great Potato Famine, they traded their turnips for native-grown pumpkins.
* Orange and black have long been Halloween's "official" colors. Orange is associated with the harvest. (Also the color of autumn leaves.) And black is associated with DEATH!!!!
* Halloween is now the second largest commercial holiday in America, second only to Christmas. Annual candy sales alone exceed $2 billion.
* The most popular Halloween wrapped candy are those little bite-sized Snickers bars.
* You won't see a full moon on Halloween until October 31, 2020.
* Celebrated magician and escape artist Harry Houdini died on Halloween night, October 31, 1926, after being sucker-punched in the gut by an over-eager fan. A long-time investigator of life-after-death phenomenon, Houdini promised his wife his spirit would try to contact her on subsequent Halloween nights. (So far, no luck.)
* An estimated 82% of children and 67% of adults take part in Halloween parties every year.
