Krista QQ(www.123giftfactory.com) asked:


At first, let’s talking about the origin of word “Halloween”: a lot of nations on the eve of Halloween will held a celebration gathering, which also be called “All Hallow E’en”, “The Eve of All Hallows”, “Hallow e’en”, or “The eve of All Saintas’ Day “, and last evolved as a convention into “Halloween”, in Chinese we call it “the night of Halloween”. 



 

 

Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom come from? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?  

 

In the Medieval Ages, the central Europe had a history of demolishing heathens, but the sacrifice ceremony before the New Year’s night has never been reclined indeed, and just appeared in the form of wizard. That’s why in today’s Hallowmas, we are still familiar with witch’s brooms, black cats and curses.  

 

Halloween is one of the oldest holidays with origins going back thousands of years. The holiday we know as Halloween has had many influences from many cultures over the centuries. From the Roman’s Pomona Day, to the Celtic festival of Samhain, to the Christian holidays of All Saints and All Souls Days.   

 



 

Hundreds of years ago in what is now Great Britain and Northern France, lived the Celts. The Celts worshipped nature and had many gods, with the sun god as their favorite. It was “he” who commanded their work and their rest times, and who made the earth beautiful and the crops grow.  

 

The word itself, “Halloween,” actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, “All Hollows Day” (or “All Saints Day”), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.  

 

One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.  

 

Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.  



Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.  

Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.  

The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.  

 With regard to the origin of Halloween, the most referred legend viewed that Halloween was came from the ancient Western European countries before the birth of Christ, which mainly includes Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These ancient Western Europeans were also called Celtic or Druids. The date of Celtic or Druids’ New Year is on November 1, and in the New Year’s eve, young peoples in Druids were gathered in a team and worn various weird masks, carried carved radish lamps and wandered between villages. 

The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.  



Here is necessary to explain that the pumpkin lamp is a custom appeared lately, and there’s no pumpkin in ancient Western Europe. In fact, the Halloween is a ceremony that celebrated for the autumn’s harvest, and it also was said as a “ghost day”, there’s a legend said that the souls of people who dead in the that year will return to visit the world, so live peoples should let the souls returned see the scenery of their successful harvest and give them an abundant feast. So all needfires and lamps were used to scare sway the souls of ghosts, and the same time to illuminate the return road for the ghosts and guide them back.

butterflykat16 asked:


I need some good halloween party recipes that are fairly simply to make. Am looking for main dish, appitizers, snacks, desserts, and drinks. Mainly appitizers and snacks. Thanks!

Robert asked:


Sexy Halloween costumes have become extremely popular in the past few years, and trends are moving down south — south as in the size of clothing, that is. Expect to see even sexier Halloween costumes with classic accessories, pin-up inspired designs, and naughty versions of your father’s favorite sport. Here’s what hot now in adult, **** Halloween costume design.

Trends Return to the 40s and 50s

Currently fashion is heading back to the glamour years of the 40s, and so are **** Halloween costumes. Instead of the porn-esque sexiness of costumes showcased in the last decade, Halloween costumes are slowly being replaced with classy, burlesque-inspired numbers. Dita Von Teese, a famous burlesque dancer, has modeled for some of these **** Halloween costumes. Most of these **** designs featured pin-up legends (think Bettie Page). As fashion turns to the past for its inspiration, more and more Halloween costumes will take the same path. Expect to see **** pin-up costumes, such as Marilyn Monroe or Bettie Page, and classic designs revived. High-waist Halloween costumes will also come into play.

Short, Sexy, and Seductive

On the opposite end, more revealing adult Halloween costumes are being introduced to the market. The popular nurse costumes of last year are being shortened drastically — but this shortening isn’t with the amount of Halloween costumes being produced. This shortening has to do with the length of these **** Halloween costumes. Skirts are shorter (some are even intended to show off your bum), V-necks are dipping downwards, and there is less and less emphasis on covering those private assets. Clearly trends are saying less is more when it comes to **** Halloween costumes.

Adult Costumes Trends Turning to the Obscure

More trends in adult costuming lean towards obscure, offensive designs. Last year showcased the controversial Anna-Rexia costume, an adult Halloween costume meant to make Anorexia look ****. Advocacy groups were outraged by this design and said it mocked the seriousness of Anorexia Nervosa. Another adult costume showcased was a psychiatric ward costume. So what should you expect this year? Look for more obscure designs hitting markets, and expect Anna-Rexia to stay in season for Halloween costumes. Expect to see more designs make certain mental issues look sexy, and do expect more advocacy groups to be outraged by these trends.

This Isn’t Your Father’s Sports Team!

Sexy Halloween costumes versions of sports-related professions have grown in popularity, and many women are choosing to wear these suggestive designs to Halloween after-parties. What to expect: very adult baseball costumes, adult Halloween referee costumes, **** football designs, and Nascar girls. These **** Halloween costume trends don’t look like they’ll die out anytime soon.

Trends Leaning to Post 9/11 Adult Halloween Designs

Now these trends are a bit perplexing. Since 9/11, police and firefighter Halloween costumes have become extremely popular. Coincidence? There are so many **** versions of these hero-inspired costumes that you can’t shop without running into at least three different versions of these popular designs. Chances are these **** Halloween costume designs will increase in popularity.

It’s also important to note that trends in **** male costuming have not changed since the beginning of adult Halloween costuming. This just doesn’t seem to be a growing field, so don’t expect anything new with **** male costumes. Clearly the females are leading this round. The growth in this area will continue to expand for years to come, so watch for new designs and **** Halloween costume takes on modest ideas.

Victoria asked:


Halloween is such a fun holiday because it is one of the few times of the year when you and your children can get dress up like someone else. However, Halloween can become a very expensive holiday because Halloween costumes are notoriously known for their expensive prices. You should not be discouraged about dressing up for Halloween; there are many ways to save money on Halloween costumes without spending too much money.

Thrift Stores and Garage Sales

Thrift stores and garage sales are wonderful resources to find material for Halloween costumes, articles of clothing to incorporate into Halloween costumes or even Halloween costumes already put together. The great advantage of this is you can customize a one of a kind costume at really cheap prices. However, it takes a lot of time to jump around to garage sales and thrift stores to find exactly what you are looking for.

Hand Me Downs

Borrowing a costume from someone else is always a great way to save money. Why not? Especially since you will be wearing it for one day or even for a night! Just be careful when going to a Halloween party that you are wearing a costume that was not remembered from the previous year. You will get comments from others remembering the costume from the previous years.

Another factor to consider when borrowing a costume is to make sure it fits your or your children properly. Otherwise, your child could fall and trip because of a costume that is too big or too small. Make sure you try on all costumes before attending any Halloween parties or taking your children trick or treating.

Make It Yourself

By making your own costume, you can let your creative juice flow to enhance your one of a kind costume. Plus, it’s very cheap to make your costume since you are incorporating items that you already own. Unfortunately, making a costume can be time consuming, and you may need to spend hours sewing, tacking, or gluing pieces together.

Shop at Online Halloween Stores

The best way of getting cheap costumes is by purchasing it online. When you purchase your costume online, you don’t have to worry about spending time to make it, hunting down pieces at thrift or garage sales, or worrying about a borrowed costume fitting. Instead, you can simply choose what Halloween costume you want and select your size. You will receive your Halloween costume at your door - fast.

A cheap online Halloween costume store that sells quality Halloween costumes is HalfPriceCostumes.com. HalfPriceCostumes.com sells over 12,000 costumes for Halloween or any other holiday. You can save even more money with Half Price Costumes coupons by clicking the link below.

http://www.onlinestorecoupon.com/ShopbyStore/half-price-halloween-costumes.htm

Half Price Costumes has everything you need for Halloween and other holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras, and other holidays.

aspiegirl asked:


How do I make my halloween costume more weather friendly?
Im going as a Goth Cheerleader Im planning on wearing thing short black skort with a black tank top and a black long sleeve t-shirt over it. Also im gonna wear black tights. What can i add to the costume to keep me warm enough. the news said its gonna be like 58 degrees around here on halloween

How can i make my costume more weather appropriate?

kate asked:


Me and my friend are having a Halloween party but all we have is 7 dollars so what are some ideas for a Halloween party for 5 girls?

Coaster King asked:


I’ve tried to make freestanding Halloween creatures, but it dosen’t work. How do you make them?

Krista QQ(www.123giftfactory.com) asked:


On the annual Nov.1 is the traditional Western festival of “Ghost Holiday” - Halloween, and Oct. 31 is the eve of Halloween, it usually known as the night before Halloween. But the atmosphere on this day is far from “horrible” as its name sounds.



The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840’s by Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outbuildings and unhinging fence gates. 

The best known and featured custom of Halloween are just the two - fantastic “Jack’s Lantern” and prank “Trick or Treat”. 

Every time at the arrival of Halloween, the children are all hurried to put on their colorful make-up costumes, wear various ridiculous masks on and carrying a “Jack Light” walk from house to house and begging for holiday gifts.

Trick or Treat 



The custom of trick-or-treat is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village and begging for “soul candies”, made out of square pieces of bread with raisins.

The more soul candies the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could speed up a soul’s path to the heaven.

This is an important part in Halloween days on the dining table, you not only should ready for enough candies and cakes to entertain those naughty “devilkins”, but also to deck out your table with elaborate care in this special day. Never to let your guests look down with you!

 Jack’s Lantern



 The “Jack’s Lantern” custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree’s trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.

According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.

The “Jack’s Lantern” looks very cute and lovely, and its could be bought out very simple: Take a pumpkin and hollowed out it, then engraved smiling eyes and a big mouth on the outside, then put a candle in and lit it, so people could able to see this naive and smiling face faraway, this is just the children’s favorite toy on Halloween.

The Irish used turnips as their “Jack’s lanterns” originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.

Custom Tradition Review



In the most “haunted” night, all kinds of demons, pirates, witches and extraterrestrial visitors will turn out one after another. In the era before Christ, the Celtics have the custom of to hold a ceremony at the end of the summer to express thanks for the benefactions given by God and the Sun, diviners of the time will light up fires and apply witchcrafts to drive away the demons and spirits that wandering around.

Later, the custom of Romans that using nuts and apples to celebrate harvest was fused with the custom of Celtics on October 31, and In the Middle Ages, people were accustomed to put on costumes of animal designs, and worn terrible masks to drive away ghosts and demons in the night before Halloween. Although the Christianism had taken place of the Celtic and Roman’s religious activities later, these early Halloween customs have been kept down finally.

The Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences, Pomona Day’s apples, nuts, and harvest, the Festival of Samhain’s black cats, magic, evil spirits and death, and the ghosts, skeletons and skulls from All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day.

So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite “holiday,” the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.

Today, children wear on a variety of Halloween costumes and masks jokingly to attend Halloween parties, and people has been familiar with the scene of various witches made of paper, black cats, skeletons and ghost figures hanging on the walls of the parties, also in front of windows and doors there are pumpkin lanterns with bare teeth and open mouths or formidable faces.

James Taylor asked:


ng>Halloween 2008 What are you going to wear this halloween ?



Like every body else I was also not very much sure about the Halloween dress for this Halloween . I thought that there may be so many people around who are not yet decided and they may be interested in finding out what others are wearing to make their own decision . I did some research and found some reaserch done for this year by National Retail Federation. This article is mostly based on their finding and personal exeprience of celebrating and buying costumes for Halloween .

Mens Halloween Costumes

Speaking of the the adult celebrating Halloween this most of the adults would like to dress up as ghosts or pirate . Men have additionally been attracted to the on going Hollywood hits like Star wars characters or this years - The Dark Knight, Batman and no doubt you can find losts of batman and jedis walking down the street . Political atomsphere is also hot so many people will wear masks of their favorite leader and we may see a halloween night debate between friends wearing incomming president’s masks. Some people have their next halloween idea fixed by the last Halloween itself and some got motivated by movies and other events and still others are still not decided . They will probably go with everybody else , what ever is most popular they will stick to that . Just to see what prople are really going to wear this you can leave a comment if you have decided .

Womens Halloween Costumes



Recently a research has indicated that Witch & Cat character costume will be most favorite halloween costume for women in 2008 . But why not look at the other bargain options available through auction sites like ebay . You may find the costume you were looking for and you may end up getting it for a bargain .

Kids Halloween Costumes

Small kids , toddlers halloween dresses have been of pumpkins and animals like lion , elephents , dynosoures and little princesses and fairys and they are the cutest dressed in Halloween .

Girls Halloween Costumes



Girls all time favorite halloween costume is Princess and fairy costume and if they are not scared they dress up as witches . This year young girls , besides princess and witch , may like to dress up as their favorite TV star - Hanna Montana. If you are looking for a dress for this halloween you can look get one for a bargain price in ebay . You can view a list of popular dress below .

Boys Halloween costumes

Boys would like to dress up as star wars character such as Jedi worrier or their favorite spider man who can jump over the building or ship pirate . Going by the Hollywood inspiration The Dark Knight, Batman - inspired batman dress will be a choice of boys.

Pet’s Halloween Costumes



People with pets in their house treats them as family members and on a occasion like halloween they are going to get them dressed in a halloween costume as well . Most of the people will propably buy a devil or pumpkin halloween costume for their pets and along with devil and pumpkin you may find pets dressed in witches , princesses and angels halloween costumes as well.

about : James Taylor is the author of this article . Based on his reaserch he created a website http://halloweenwardrobe.com to share his experience and provide a convinient way of buying popular halloween costumes for everyone in the family

Krista QQ(www.123giftfactory.com) asked:


The Design Colors used in Halloween Decoration

— Orange is the Themed Color of Halloween  







Echoes with “Jack’s Lantern”, the color black and orange are traditional colors on the eve of Halloween, and the representatives of black there are black cats, spiders and witches, while the representative of orange is pumpkin lantern (Jack-O’-Lantern), all these decorations are familiar symbols of Halloween.

During the Halloween, you could deck the large dinning table in your home with orange, yellow and green thus to produce a thick ambience of village, accompanied with rural music emitted from stereo, oh! It’s so warm and cozy!

Today, a mass of purple, green and red have begun been used with Halloween decorations. If the home furnishings in your dining room are more suited with these colors, well then they could also bring you great inspirations for your holiday decoration.

* Symbols of Halloween

— Pumpkin is The Most Popular Figure in Halloween  







Among all symbols of Halloween, the pumpkin figure is most popular

Halloween also called “Ghost Holiday” in the West, so many symbols of the Halloween are themed with ghosts and demons, but among them there are also lovely symbols like pumpkin lanterns and scarecrows. Whether on a Jack’s Lantern in your hands or those furnishings on dining table or in dining room, pumpkins could be seen everywhere.

Try and take some minds for the festival, you can choose some storage tanks, small decorations that shaped in “pumpkin head”, or use your hands to make some napkins, placemats that formed into big pumpkins, with these you could dress your table uniquely and full of moods, which is very important for holding a successful party.

* Unique Style Home Furnishings

— Special Ideas for Halloween Decoration







An exquisite candle holder could bring more fun to Halloween decorations easily for us, and to choose candlestick as a Halloween decoration also is very economical. You only should to spend a small amount of money and buy a variety of novel candleholders to deck your dining table in holiday, whose wonderful patterns and aromas could show your high taste prominently. Even these candlesticks are only been displayed on the dining side-tables, they could also acted as kind of elegant embellishments for your happy life. The base of iron candlestick could bring a qualified sense of weight, matched with long candles in solid colors, it can reflect out dazzling sheens.

Simple structure is also a bright spot in the design of this type of candlesticks, using them to deck your dining table could produce unique flavors in Halloween. And small candlesticks are also a good choice, the color of light rose could foil joyful moods well and bring more warm to this festival, and leave you beautiful memories to this special holiday too.

When we choose home furnishings for decoration, flower is always an important factor that could bring us joy and beauty, so in Halloween our dining tables could not keep them away. You can select a bone china flower vase and several wild chrysanthemums matched with it, or to buy some dried flowers that stained with orange, all these are good ideas that keeping with the occasion and the time well.

No matter to choose what decoration or furnishings to decorate your home in this Halloween, I believe they could all bring surprises and enjoyments to our life. Even if you have never been abroad, and never enjoyed this holiday really, as long as you have mastered the furnishing skills of the home life, and as long as you could pay more intention to collect the knowledge of the life with home furnishings and home decoration, I believe you could become a true connoisseur of life and fashion finally.