• Halloween, celebrated each year on October 31, is a mix of ancient Celtic practices, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that blended together over time to create the holiday we know today. Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity and life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. Halloween has long been thought of as a day when the dead can return to the earth, and ancient Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off these roaming ghosts.

• The Celtic holiday of Samhain, the Catholic Hallowmas period of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day and the Roman festival of Feralia all influenced the modern holiday of Halloween. In the 19th century, Halloween began to lose its religious connotation, becoming a more secular community-based children's holiday. Although the superstitions and beliefs surrounding Halloween may have evolved over the years, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people can still look forward to parades, costumes and sweet treats to usher in the winter season.

• The American Halloween tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives.

• The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.  

• Today's Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages, when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into cats. We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason.

• According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his

name, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for his drink, so he

convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack

could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money

and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which

prevented the Devil from changing back into his

original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the

condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and

that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree,

Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree's bark so

that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten

more years.

TRABAJO REALIZADO POR:

• Ana Rocío Pareja Sánchez

• Jessica Sánchez Osete

• Pablo Avilés Cano

• Antonio Jose Bermudez Larrosa

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