Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31st. It is celebrated with Halloween parties and kids going house to house going trick or treating. It is celebrated in the US and in other parts of the world like the United Kingdom and Canada.
How Halloween is celebrated today goes back to the time when ancient pagans believed that October 31 is the day when the boundary between the living and the dead dissolves. Since the dead could cause harm to those who are living, people will go out into the streets wearing costumes and masks to ward off the evil spirits.
But that was then and now, we simply do it for fun. Weeks before Halloween, people would go out and by costumes. The most saleable ones are the skeletons, ghosts, vampires, witches and devils. If you have the time, you can make your own costume based on a television show or movie.
One study shows that of the people surveyed, more than half of the American public plan to buy a costume for Halloween even if it costs $10 more than it did last year. This means that sales will reach more than $6 billion from a little over $5 billion last year.
People in the Halloween spirit will also put up decorations in their homes like carved pumpkins, skeletons and candles.
During parties, aside from the food and drinks, several games are played. The most common is dunking or bobbing for apples in which applies that are floating in a tub or large basin are picked up by the participants using their teeth.
Another is to eat syrup coated scones that is hanging by a string. Again, you have to eat it without using your hands.
If you don’t want to go to party and do something daring, try going with a few friends and visit a haunted house. Many people don’t do this literally when they can have fun visiting a theme park that has something special for the occasion.
The favorite fruit during Halloween is the apple because it comes during the wake of the harvest season. You can eat it directly or have this mixed with sticky syrup and nuts.
Other countries celebrate Halloween differently. In most Asian countries, the people put food and water as well as a lantern so those who have departed will have something to eat, drink and a lighted path as they travel the earth during Halloween night. In Czechoslovakia, chairs are placed by the fireside on Halloween night. Each chair represents a living member and those who have passed on. The Swedes simply give students a day-off and a shortened working day for the employees.
But paying homage to the dead is what most countries do during Halloween. In fact, the day after which is November 1, is considered to be All Saint’s Day while the 2nd is called All Soul’s Day. This is done to commemorate those who are in purgatory with the hope of being cleansed of their sins so they may go to heaven.
For most children and adults, Halloween is simply a time to have fun with friends and family. They can go around getting candy by moving from one house to the next while the grown ups will go to a party where there is a lot of food and drinks.
Of all of the times of the year there are when crafts are the most fun, and even expected, there may be none that are as much fun as the Halloween season. This is because this holiday is associated with nothing but fun for most, and those Halloween crafts can be just as much fun. What is even better is that some of these crafts are great for all ages, and there is always something for everyone, even those that are all advanced in years. Your personality determines what you will think is fun, but you are going to be pleased at what you find.
For the youngsters, there are a variety of Halloween crafts that they can do with simple printouts and construction paper. Skeletons are a popular theme for this holiday, so finding a printout or kit that has a skeleton in it that needs to be put together with brads can be fun. That allows the pieces to move about once it is one. You can make a variety of pumpkins with construction paper, or you can use tissues and Styrofoam balls to make some cute, little ghosts for your Halloween crafts to do with younger children.
Crafts for older children should be a bit more complex. One huge Halloween craft tradition is carving pumpkins. Younger children can do this with adult help, or can use markers to do it on their own. For teens, however, they can come up with some very creative ideas. They won’t always go with the traditional mouth, nose and eyes. They may come up with something more abstract that resembles, in no way, a face. Teens love this, but adults are also going to get into these Halloween crafts as well. They can be carved and used as serving dishes for parties.
Wreaths can be a lot of fun as Halloween crafts for people of all ages. You can get wreath bases from craft stores (or online) and then do whatever you wish to them. The twig wreaths are great for this, as you can paint them and then add what you want, but you can go with almost any type that you want. If you think that these wreath Halloween crafts are what you want to do, but you are running low on ideas, talk with someone at a craft store for some good ideas, or you can look around online for inspiration. You may find whatever you need to build them there as well.
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