12 Reasons Why Halloween is so Popular and Loved

Halloween’s origin goes back more than 2,500 years, under the feast name of Samain (or Samhain or Samonios), the Celtic deity of death celebrated on October 31. Samain was also the name of the month of November in the Gaelic languages, marking the beginning of all that is “cold, black and dead.” In many Irish epic tales, Samhain’s feast is mentioned as being auspicious for magical and occult events. Halloween comes from an alteration of “All Hallows’ Eve,” whose literal meaning is: “the eve of the feast of all saints,” that is to say, the eve of the Catholic feast of All Saints. Here are 12 reasons why Halloween is so popular and loved. 

Why Halloween is so Popular and Loved

1. The kids are so pretty in their costumes. It puts color in family photo albums. Halloween also helps to strengthen family ties, in particular by preparing together with the decorations for which it is famous.
2. Spending Halloween with the children allows you to ogle the neighbors. Please don’t say you’ve never done it. This is a chance to slice our pumpkins, cover the walls with torpors (this is the time they are respected), and take out some skeletons from the closet (plastic, of course). They rubbed dry branches of the holy oak tree until they ignited a new fire to honor the sun god and frighten evil spirits. Each head of the family received red embers collected in these flames to light a new one in his hearth. The latter was to burn until the following fall. This sacred fire was to protect the home from danger throughout the year.
3. It’s not just kids who enjoy candy. Halloween party is an opportunity for many children to dress up and terrorize the neighborhood for an evening. Ghosts, witches, black cats, vampires, and mini-Harry Potter parade through the streets, participate in frenzied dances, and ring the doorbell to claim their candy while chanting “Trick or Treat.” It’s very simple, to ensure the good graces of the ghosts and prevent them from falling on their homes, the Celts prepared, on Samain’s evening, an enormous banquet of cakes and apples at the entrance of the villages. Over the years, this eating ritual has been replaced by candy, which children cry out for by shouting “Trick or Treat “during the 20th century.
4. Leftover candy is a great bargaining chip for good behavior in the days to come.
5. An orange party brings color to the dark month of October.
6. For adults, it allows us to recycle old laundry to make a costume.
7. For the pumpkin, this funny vegetable. Without Halloween, the pumpkin would be pretty much forgotten. The month of October makes it possible to say “cucurbits,” a word that is absolutely enjoyable to pronounce. In the kitchens, apples, pumpkins, and spices are in the spotlight for October 31. Pumpkin soups and curries simmer in the pots, while a delicious pumpkin pie bakes in the oven and the “toffee apples” (the equivalent of love apples) chill on the counter. You will also find these dishes on the menu of pubs and restaurants during this festive period.
8. Far from these ancestral traditions, Halloween has remained today a terrifying celebration where we disguise ourselves as zombies or any other creatures that recall the dead’s world. Halloween comes from the English expression “All Hallows Eve,” which means “All Saints’ Eve.” Therefore, each year, October 31 is marked by this holiday. With us, Halloween has kept no tradition except its disguises and its scary side. On this last day of the year, it was assumed that the spirits could make a brief visit to their parents, as the god of death attempted to gather the souls of those who had perished during the year to reveal their fate to them. To be sure to frighten these ghosts, the Gauls would put on make-up and wear frightening costumes.
9. Long before the carved pumpkins, now a symbol of this celebration, it was turnips that were used as a lantern. Indeed, at the time, the tradition wanted that one indicates the way to the dead by leaving a candle in the heart of a turnip or of a hollowed potato, vegetables which one found easily in Ireland at that time of the year. It was not until the tradition arrived in the United States that a pumpkin replaced the turnip. And we admit that we still find it much prettier than a turnip.
10. Halloween is the perfect day to find the love of your life according to certain beliefs. Indeed, in Ireland, clairvoyance games were organized on Halloween to predict future marriages. If this is no longer the case today, we like the idea that we could perhaps find our soul mate disguised as a giant pumpkin.
11. The preparation of the event itself. Choosing, buying, or making costumes, decorating the house and decorating the pumpkins, buying the candy are all steps that can put your patience to the end but are part of the celebration. Instead of finding the whole thing exhausting, take the opportunity to experience the preparations as a family. Then comes the friendliness, the meeting with the neighbors, and the whole neighborhood. Let it be said; rare are the occasions when everyone goes out in the street in a good mood (or almost) to celebrate anything. Please take advantage of it! Linger at your neighbor’s house to compliment her on the upkeep of her garden.
12. The floating apple game (known as “bobbing the apple” in English) is one of Halloween’s most popular. Apples are placed in a basin of water, which can also float some frogs and spiders; true or false, it’s up to you. The goal is to bite into apples without using your hands (you will cross them on your back). To spice up the party and make it even more fun, the eyes can be blindfolded! This tradition is linked to an ancient Roman festival that honored Pomona, the goddess of fruits and trees.

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