- The word “Halloween” is a contraction from “All Hallows’ Eve” which is also a short form of “All Hallows’ Evening”.
- Halloween is said to be a Christian festival influenced with pagan practices. Halloween or All Hallows Eve comes before All Saints Day to give honour to the dead saints and to offer prayers to the dead who haven’t reached heaven yet.
- Halloween was originally on May 13th but was re-established on November 1 by Pope Gregory III to honour the church and the saints.
- A Halloween activity in the church was primarily of praying for souls who haven’t reached heaven yet.
Everybody loves Halloween
- Majority of the celebrants are actually young adults ranging from 18 to 24 years old. Favourite activities include throwing/attending a party and going to a haunted house.
- Statistics show that American families spend an average of 2 months preparing for the Halloween season.
- Trick-or-treaters aged from 5-13 years old round up to 36 million for the U.S. alone.
Get your carving knives ready!
- The Jack-o-Lantern is believed to have come from a prankster named Jack who had a not-so-fun history with the devil. Story goes that he tricked the devil and locked him in a pumpkin and paraded around making a mockery of the devil. The devil later got free and took Jack’s soul into hell. Every Halloween Jack comes back and terrorizes people. Pumpkins were carved with the devil’s face and placed on doorsteps to hopefully scare Jack away.
- Fastest carving time is 20.1 seconds by David Finkle hailing from the UK. This was on 2010.
- Turnips were originally used as Jack-o-Lanterns, but pumpkins are harvested more frequently and cheaper than turnips.
Free healthcare?
- During the late 90’s, when news became rampant about candies being tampered with, hospitals offered free screening via x-ray to detect embedded objects in the candies.
Did I hear “Boo”? or “Cha-ching”?
- In 2011, sales predicted a $72 per American spending, totalling to $6.86 billion on Halloween alone. During the recession in 2009, sales garnered only up to $4.31 billion.
- Business rockets during Halloween as people not only purchase as much as $23.37 per costume, they also have to buy home decors.
- Work opportunities increase as consumer demand during Halloween rises significantly.
Bet you didn’t expect wedding bells
- Apple-bobbing is associated with the Roman goddess of harvest and fertility named Pomona. Women were encouraged to play it and the first to get the apple is said to be the next one to marry.