Halloween - Your Excuse To Dress Up As Ghosts, Ghouls And Vampires
Halloween, celebrated on 31st October originated as the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. It was regarded as the beginning of a new year and supplies were counted and livestock slaughtered for winter stores.
It was also believed that on this night the line between living and dead became blurred and the dead could cause damage to crops and sickness to the living. Bonfires, and dressing up in costumes and masks where thought to be ways of warding off or perhaps placating the dead so that they did not wreak their havoc.
Halloween is a shortened spelling of All Hallows' Even (or Evening) meaning the evening before All Hallows Day, now known as All Saints Day.
Traditional Halloween games usually centered on the fruit that was available at the time, which in Europe is apples and oranges. One such game is apple bobbing. To play apple bobbing you first need a large tub filled with water. Apples are placed in the water and the participants kneel with their hands behind their backs and try to remove an apple using only their teeth. The players must be prepared to get wet!
A variation is to hang the apples up on strings and players must eat these without using your hands, recently doughnuts have replaced the apples, another messy game!!
Pass The Apple is a Halloween game that can be played with either apples or oranges - this game entails players standing in teams, they then try to pass the fruit from one to the other with it tucked under their chin - no hands are allowed! The quickest team wins the prize!
Paring is a test of skill where each person peels an apple or an orange and, tries to get the longest piece of peel. Another game known, as Puicini played with peel, is to throw a piece of peel over your shoulder and by the shape of the letter that it creates you are said to be able to predict the first letter of the name of your future partner.
Traditional Halloween food is also the foods that are available in autumn, apples made into candy apples or apple cider. Or pumpkin used to make into soups or pumpkin pie.
Halloween outfits of ghosts, witches, skeletons and demons were traditionally worn to ward off the dead. Nowadays just about anything goes when it comes to dressing up for Halloween.
When you are choosing an outfit, take into account what you will be comfortable wearing both physically and temperamentally! An all in one, furry outfit such as a gorilla will be fine in a cooler climate but not so much fun in a warmer one or if the party is going to be indoors with no access to a cooling breeze!
If you are not used to showing much skin do not opt for the "sexy" version of an outfit (they are available as an option for most outfits) you will only feel self conscious for the whole evening and end up wishing you had covered up more.
These days there are a myriad of costumes available, in adult sizes for all. There are also outfits for babies, children, teens and even the pet dog can join in on Halloween!
It was also believed that on this night the line between living and dead became blurred and the dead could cause damage to crops and sickness to the living. Bonfires, and dressing up in costumes and masks where thought to be ways of warding off or perhaps placating the dead so that they did not wreak their havoc.
Halloween is a shortened spelling of All Hallows' Even (or Evening) meaning the evening before All Hallows Day, now known as All Saints Day.
Traditional Halloween games usually centered on the fruit that was available at the time, which in Europe is apples and oranges. One such game is apple bobbing. To play apple bobbing you first need a large tub filled with water. Apples are placed in the water and the participants kneel with their hands behind their backs and try to remove an apple using only their teeth. The players must be prepared to get wet!
A variation is to hang the apples up on strings and players must eat these without using your hands, recently doughnuts have replaced the apples, another messy game!!
Pass The Apple is a Halloween game that can be played with either apples or oranges - this game entails players standing in teams, they then try to pass the fruit from one to the other with it tucked under their chin - no hands are allowed! The quickest team wins the prize!
Paring is a test of skill where each person peels an apple or an orange and, tries to get the longest piece of peel. Another game known, as Puicini played with peel, is to throw a piece of peel over your shoulder and by the shape of the letter that it creates you are said to be able to predict the first letter of the name of your future partner.
Traditional Halloween food is also the foods that are available in autumn, apples made into candy apples or apple cider. Or pumpkin used to make into soups or pumpkin pie.
Halloween outfits of ghosts, witches, skeletons and demons were traditionally worn to ward off the dead. Nowadays just about anything goes when it comes to dressing up for Halloween.
When you are choosing an outfit, take into account what you will be comfortable wearing both physically and temperamentally! An all in one, furry outfit such as a gorilla will be fine in a cooler climate but not so much fun in a warmer one or if the party is going to be indoors with no access to a cooling breeze!
If you are not used to showing much skin do not opt for the "sexy" version of an outfit (they are available as an option for most outfits) you will only feel self conscious for the whole evening and end up wishing you had covered up more.
These days there are a myriad of costumes available, in adult sizes for all. There are also outfits for babies, children, teens and even the pet dog can join in on Halloween!