Although historical Halloween has some sinister beginnings, today Halloween means dressing up in costumes and having a wonderful time. Parties, dressing up at work, decorating the house all are part of the festivities that have become Halloween. To really get into the whole Halloween thing however must include not only a great costume but also a great Halloween mask. The costume is rather simple to obtain as there are costume shops in most major cities and it’s even possible to order a particular costume on the web for delivery just before Halloween. Although you may now have the clothing to look like your favorite character or monster, your face still is easily recognizable. This is where a high quality Halloween mask can really come into play.

If there’s a choice between a fancy costume or a great Halloween mask and makeup, definitely take the mask. The reason is that although the costume can complete a certain “look” any character you can imagine can also wear basic street clothes. Consider the strong heavily made-up character, a clown. Yes, it’s great to have a funny costume and big shoes, but a clown could also wear a business suit or some pajamas and be just as fun. How about a basic witch or warlock? A good Halloween mask and makeup and a cape can make a wonderful witch. So if the character you want to be for Halloween needs face or hand makeup, remember it’s the Halloween mask and interaction with the character that will be memorable, not the costume.

Halloween masks come in a variety of styles and types. The most popular and easiest to obtain is the full head latex type masks. These are the type that are available in all the Halloween shops that seem to open up the first part of October and disappear November 1st. These masks come pre colored and decorated and unfortunately also look like you’re wearing a mask.

Another option is simply makeup. Theatrical makeup is easily obtained and does a fairly good job if used along with “stick on” type appliances. Appliances are small pieces of pre formed costume latex in shapes like scars, gashes and other more gruesome things. The only problem is that many of the appliances that are easily available tend toward the more gruesome type characters, The idea is to apply the scars etc. first then finish off with the makeup to hide the edges of the appliances. All in all, a good, though somewhat limited Halloween mask idea.

The best idea of all however are full facial appliances. These are theatrical grade latex masks that can are applied directly to your face and give an extremely realistic appearance. These appliances can literally transform anyone into a wide variety of characters. Wizards, warlocks, clowns, monsters, etc. They can even age someone into their 80′s or 90′s. The biggest benefit of these types of Halloween mask is that they allow you the opportunity to become the character. You friends and guests will not remember that you “dressed up” for Halloween but that you actually were that favorite hobbit or troll.

Now however is the time to order your Halloween mask, adhesives, and makeup. It will take a few tries to get it right and you don’t want to worry about it on Halloween night. Take the time now to find that perfect Halloween mask and learn how to make this Halloween the most memorable for everyone.

0) The most popular game on the eve of Halloween is “Biting Apples”. In the game, people will put some apples floating in the water with a big basin, then let the children to bite at these apples without using their hands, and the winner is the first one who bite an apple successfully.  

1) Halloween is always celebrated on 31 October.

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2) Halloween is one of the oldest celebrations in the world, dating back over 2000 years to the time of the Celts who lived in Britain

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3) Halloween is correctly spelt as Hallowe’en and Halloween is also known by other names:

- All Hallows Eve

- Samhain

- All Hallowtide

- The Feast of the Dead

- The Day of the Dead

- Nos Calan Gaeaf (Halloween in Welsh)

4) In Mexico, they celebrate Halloween or the Day of the Dead starting the evening of October 31.

5) When the Romans conquered England, they merged Samhain with their own festivals, a harvest festival called Poloma, and a celebration for the dead called Feralia.

6) When Christianity came to England and the rest of Europe, 1 November became All Saints Day – a day dedicated to all those saints who didn’t have a special day of their own. They performed a mass called ‘All hallows mass’ and the night before became known as All Hallows E’en and eventually Hallowe’en or Halloween.

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7) Black cats were originally believed to protect witches’ powers from negative forces.

About 99% of pumpkins sold are used as Jack O’ Lanterns at Halloween.

9) It is thought that the colors orange and black became Halloween colors because orange is associated with harvests (Halloween masks the end of harvest) and black is associated with death.

10) A pumpkin is really a squash, and comes from the same family as the cucumber.

11) The biggest pumpkin in the world tipped the scales at a whopping 1,446 pounds. This gigantic gourd was weighed in October 2004 at a pumpkin festival in Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada.

12) Top Tips for Halloween: If your pumpkin lantern shrivels up, you can restore it by soaking it overnight in water to rehydrate it.

13) The very first jack o’ lantern was made out of hollowed out turnips.

14) The record for the fastest pumpkin carver in the world is Jerry Ayers of Baltimore, Ohio. He carved a pumpkin in just 37 seconds!

15) If you see a spider on this night, it could be the spirit of a dead loved one who is watching you.

16) Ringing a bell on Halloween eve scares evil spirits away.

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17) If you want to meet a witch, put your clothes on inside out and walk backwards on Halloween night.

WHAT IS HALLOWEEN

Halloween, Hallowe’en, or Holloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses”, and carving jack-o-lanterns. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century.

To me the whole idea of Halloween seems to be very interesting, the idea as such is on of the craziest idea ever imagined. But I consider this autumn night to be one of the enjoyable holidays of the year. The reason why I find this holiday to be the most enjoyable holiday is not because of the candy perhaps it could also be one of the reason, but the main reason which strikes me is that the whole fun to see everyone dressed in weird costumes. We finally get a chance to celebrate the other spookier side of our life. Bats, vampires, and all the traditional elements create a night which has both the mood of fright as well as laughter. The entire atmosphere of that night is an inexpressible event and the way the kids go for trick or treat, collecting their desired sweets and the adults can throw a party any moment. The entire experience of being extremely crazy to the core .What could be better than this.

THE DIFFERENT NAMES
Another fascinating thing about Halloween is the different names with which it is referred to. There is an alternative spelling with which it is referred to Hallowe’en looks different but exciting yet. Another popular way in which it is referred by the saints is Samhain Pronounced as Sow-in.
In some parts of Ireland they call the celebration as Oiche Shamhna and in some other parts it is referred to as Pooky night. This Pooky night, is referred because it is kept after the name of a mischievous spirits called as puca.
An ethnic group of Britain referred as Celts calls the night as Allantide.

HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE
The various traditions which are followed are almost innumerable. However some of the funny traditions I would like to list are:
In Mexico it is not a long established tradition. However the kids have started the tradition of trick or treat and they have parties with exciting themes for the older crowd.

In Australia and New Zealand the festival doesn’t gain much importance because they consider the festival as an foreign culture import. However as the festival in itself is so interesting many people organize trick o treat for the kids and the candy tradition is frowned upon.
In America single women are told that if they sit in a room with lights off and hold a mirror then they would see their would be husbands photo and if they are going to remain single forever then they would visualize the image of a skull.