HALLOWEEN
THE POWER OF THE PUMPKIN
ENVISION OCTOBER AND WITH IT YOU WILL SUMMON PICTURES OF FALLING LEAVES , MUGS OF COFFEE AND OF COURSE , ORANGE PUMPKINS . A MAGICAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THIS SEASON , THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO THE HUMBLE PUMPKIN THAN JUST A CARVED FACE .
© Mash / Unsplash
Perhaps it is October ’ s falling leaves and long nights that made our ancestors think of death , decay and darkness at this time of year , leading them to mark the beginning of their ancient winters with such a ghoulish celebration . Believed to predate the Romans , the origins of Halloween are thought to have derived from a Celtic festival named Samhain , which since evolved into what we now celebrate as Halloween . Also known as ‘ All Hallows Eve ’, the festival comes the day before ‘ All Saints ’ Day ’, a day which honours all holy people and before ‘ All Souls ’ Day ’ which falls the day after this , upon which we remember the souls of all those who have died .
While many of us believe that Halloween celebrations originated in the US , they are in fact wrong . English Heritage explains that pastimes such as trick-ortreating and pumpkin carving are actually ‘ modern versions of old English and Irish traditions that go back hundreds of years ’ and that travelled to the New World along with the original pilgrims and those that left Britain in the 1800s . “ In many ways they ’ ve just been reintroduced to us ,” says English Heritage . However , this is not to say that our transatlantic cousins and their early 1990 ’ s blockbuster favourites such as Hocus Pocus and Beetlejuice did not play their part . Gaining immense popularity over the last 30 years , Millennial Brits have happily re-adopted these Halloween hijinks so that we and our children can now partake in these ultimate spooky celebrations too .
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