It’s
Halloween this weekend so I thought I’d tell you some fun facts about its
history and the some of the characters you'll expect to see on your doorstep on
Friday... Ok so I cheated a bit this week and brought in more history than
archaeology but I found it interesting so you hopefully you will too!
Why
is Halloween celebrated on the 31st October? Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival
known as Samhain (pronounced "sah-win"). The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of
the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient
pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed
that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the
dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such
as sickness or damaged crops.
Source: www.history.com
Why
do we wear Halloween costumes and go trick-or-treating ?
The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door
to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages, and includes
Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of
"souling," when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas
(November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls
Day (November 2).
Source: www.halloweenhistory.org/
Why are mummies always screaming?
For well over a century, the contorted features of
ancient mummies have led to speculation of untold pain and horrible deaths.
Archaeologists uncovering ancient tombs have often found the mummified corpses
with their mouths agape or lips pulled back as
if they are screaming or
writhing in pain, indeed this has led to the portrayal of mummies in this state
in the media, fiction and in your Halloween costumes. So why were the mummies found with these terrified and pained expressions? The reason is a lot less horryfiying that you’d expect and simply due to the decomposition of a body after rigor mortis – if the jaw isn't strapped shut when a body is mummified it naturally falls open as the muscles relax during the process of decay, leaving a permanent "scream."
Source: archive.archaeology.org
Why
do witches fly on brooms sticks?
Why do witches fly on broom sticks? To get high of
course! Although you may be rolling your
eyes at reading that, I bet you didn’t know that the joke is also surprisingly
accurate....
According to research the reason is pharmacological. Hallucinogenic
chemicals called tropane alkaloids are made by a number of plants including
Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), Hyoscyamus niger (henbane), Mandragora
officinarum (mandrake), and Datura stramonium (jimsonweed).
During the Middle Ages, parts of these plants were used to make “brews,” “oyntments,” or “witches’ salves” for witchcraft, sorcery, and other nefarious activities. It was quickly discovered that injesting these ointments led to some terrible sideeffects such as vomiting, rashes etc. and so in order to avoid these side-effects the hallucinogenic compounds were absorbed into the skin and the fastest way to get the ointment into your blood was through sweat glands. So how did the alleged witches apply said ointments? Yep you guessed it, by using the broomsticks!
You can read the rest below, but I warn you its definitely
not something you can tell your kids!
Sources: www.forbes.com, www.todayifoundout.com
Oh and finally...
Why
did the Vampire read C-U-D-I? Because he heard it had
good circulation!
Happy
Halloween!
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