35 things you didn't know about Halloween

In keeping up the holiday spirit, here are some interesting facts you most likely did not known about Halloween.

History:

• Ireland is believed to be the birthplace of Halloween, which was originally a Celtic festival called Samhain that celebrated the harvest.
• The Celts thought that spirits and ghosts wandered the countryside on the night of Halloween, so they wore masks and costumes to prevent being recognized as humans.
• Jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland during the Samhain holiday where people would place candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep bad spirits and ghosts away.
• The first jack-o-lanterns were made from turnips, beets and potatoes.
• The word “witch” comes from the Old English wicce, which means “wise woman.” Wiccan were highly respected people at one time.
• According to popular belief, witches held one of their two main meetings on Halloween night.
• Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from the Roman harvest festival that honored Pomona, the goddess of fruit trees. Unmarried people would bob for apples floating in water or hanging from a string, and the first person to bite into the apple would be the next one permitted to marry. It is believed that girls who placed the apple they bobbed under their pillows would dream of their future lover.
• Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.

Stats: (National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics)

• Halloween is the second highest grossing commercial holiday after Christmas.
• More than 157 million Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year.
• Total spending on Halloween in the US is estimated to be $6.9 billion.
• The average person celebrating will spend $74.34.
• Approximately 68 million Americans will dress up for this Halloween and 20 million pet owners will dress up their pet.
• $330 million will be spent on greeting cards.
• 44.8% of the celebrants will decorate their home or yard.
• 25% of celebrants will wait for the final weeks of October to do their Halloween shopping.
• On October 19, 2013, Keene, New Hampshire became the current world record for most lit jack-o-lanterns on display with 30,581.
• It is very rare for a full moon to occur on Halloween. It happened in 1925, 1944, 1955 and 1974. It is predicted to happen in 2020.

Candy: (Influenster.com)

• Americans will spend between $2.1 billion and $2.6 billion on candy this Halloween.
• From an online survey of more than 40,000 people across the nation, it was determined that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is America’s favorite Halloween candy. Other favorites include Kit Kat and Butterfinger.
• More candy is sold on October 28 than any other day.
• Kids consume up to 7,000 calories on Halloween.
• Dark chocolate can last for 1-2 years if stored in a cool, dry place. Milk and white chocolate lasts no more than 8-10 months. Hard candies can last up to 1 year.

Facts:

• The largest Halloween parade in the US is the Village Halloween Parade in NYC, which expects more than 50,000 participants and over 2 million spectators.
• In Hollywood, there is a $1000 fine for using Silly String on Halloween.
• In Alabama, it is illegal to dress up as a priest or other religious clergy member.
• Black cats were believed to be a witch’s companion that protected her power.
• While black cats are believed to bring bad luck in the US, white cats are thought to bring bad luck in the UK.
• Many animal shelters do not allow black cats to be adopted around Halloween for fear that they will be tortured or sacrificed.
• Scottish girls believed that they could see images of their future husband if they hung wet sheets in front of the fire on Halloween, and others believed they would see their boyfriend’s faces if they looked into mirrors while walking downstairs at midnight on Halloween.
• According to tradition, if a person wears his clothes inside out and walks backwards on Halloween, he will see a witch at midnight.
• According to legend, if you see a spider on Halloween, it is the spirit of a loved one watching over you.
• The popular movie, Halloween (1978), was made in only 21 days on a $325,000 budget. William Shatner’s Star Trek mask, which was spray-painted and had reshaped eyeholes and teased hair, was used as Michael Meyers’s mask because it was cheapest they could find. The movie was shot in the spring and included fake autumn leaves. The main character Laurie Strode, who is played by Jamie Lee Curtis, was named after director John Carpenter’s first girlfriend.
• The famous magician, Harry Houdini, died on Halloween in 1926.
• Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween.

Josie Smith, freshman in pre-nursing science, said that many of the facts were unexpected.

“Some of the statistics were surprising like how much money people spend on Halloween like how the average person spends $74,” Smith said. “I also thought it was surprising about the laws like the one in Hollywood, and the myth about hanging the sheets. I thought that was kind of weird.”

“I thought it was interesting that jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland and that they hollowed out turnips and put candles in to keep bad spirits away,” said Eric Port, freshman in pre-business.

Courtney Willett, freshman in microbial biology (cell/molecular), also said she thought the fact about jack-o-lanterns was interesting.

“The whole thing in the past where in Ireland they used potatoes and turnips as the original jack-o-lanterns seems really cool to me. It was different; I never really thought about using potatoes as jack-o-lanterns,” Willett said. “The one about if you see a spider on Halloween, it’s suppose to be a loved one watching over you; that kind of freaks me out, honestly.”