The name of the holiday seems to have evolved over time from All Hallows Evening – meaning the night before All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) which falls on November 1st.
Jack-o-lanterns were originally carved from turnips. The carved faces were placed in windows to ward off evil spirits. The carving of pumpkins for Halloween startedt in North America where pumpkins were more available and much larger– making them easier to carve than turnips. Other elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows are also common and homes are often decorated with these around Halloween.
Children dress up in costume and go from house to house trick or treating. Mostly treats are given but when it is not, it is customary for a trick to be played on the home owner or their property.
In New Zealand we enter spring at this time of the year. The association with Halloween is not as strong as it is in other countries. The main celebration of Halloween in New Zealand are costume parties.
At New Zealand Handmade we wanted to join the celebration and so have put together a few Halloween items from our Etsy shops. Click on any of them to go straight to the pages.
Happy Halloween everyone.
Joy (Kazzalblue)
PS Don't forget to take a look at our Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap and join in the fun here
Great information Joy, when my children were younger my local village would gather children together, and villages who wanted to participate would put balloons on their gate, so the children only went to those homes, and they always walked with an adult. cheers Marie
ReplyDeleteI love all the Halloweeny goodness! Makes me miss my Northern Hemisphere autumn. :( But the lovely spring weather we've got here almost makes it worth missing! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful lot of halloween goodness!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad lived in Canada throughout his childhood and remembers the excitement of halloween.
When I read about Halloween it makes me think I really missed out on something very nice during my childhood in Germany! Ingrid
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