More Historical Halloween Information
ByHalloween costumes have a long history starting with adults in times gone by. In parts of Ireland, a man holding a horse’s head and wearing a white robe led groups, and in parts of Scotland, beggars known as ‘skeklets’ came out. Wales saw a great deal of cross-dressing of boys and girls who then sang rhymes.
By the late 1800s in the United States, adults began celebrating Halloween and dressing up. However, by the 1900s, children primarily engaged in Halloween costuming. The first costumes were usually Fairies, Gypsies and Burglars. The 1950s saw the first factory made costumes, with movies and television lending itself to the themes. Store-bought costumes are now the ideal in many areas.
Jack-o-Lanterns are usually hallowed out pumpkins with faces cut into them with a candle or light inside. Beets or turnips were used initially in Scotland and Ireland. Christian purgatory is represented by Jack-o-Lanterns, as they represent spirits present in the dark, or souls released from purgatory.
Named after a symbolic individual, Jack, who could not enter heaven because of his trickery with the devil, Jack is said to have walked the earth with his lantern lit by a coal from hell.
The rituals and celebrations of Halloween were developed in Europe around fortune telling. The Irish believed that a coin, a ring, and a thimble if baked into cake or other foods would make the finder of the coin wealthy, the finder of the ring, marriageable, and the finder of the thimble, a person that would never marry.