| Old Halloween Traditions Survive in a Modern World | | | | pumpkins and lighting them with candles that this would |
| Today in our modern world we celebrate Halloween | | | | scare off the evil spirits. |
| on October 31st. Mostly Halloween is a time for the | | | | Today we celebrate Halloween by trick or treating, |
| children. They can be seen in scary kids Halloween | | | | wearing outrageous costumes and visiting haunted |
| costumes going door to door collecting candy. This is | | | | attractions. Reading or telling scary stories after dark |
| certainly a strange thing when you consider where | | | | around a bonfire has also become somewhat of a |
| Halloween originated from. | | | | tradition. |
| Halloween has its roots in an ancient Celtic festival | | | | Another tradition of Halloween that has developed |
| called Samhain. Samhain was a celebration of the end | | | | over the years is the candy apple. Since Halloween |
| of the harvest season, a time used to take stock of | | | | occurs around the time of the apple harvest making |
| supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Celtics | | | | the candy apples seemed like just the thing to do with |
| believed that on October 31 for reasons unknown the | | | | all those apples around. |
| boundary between the living and the dead dissolved. | | | | UNICEF which is United Nations Children's Fund for a |
| The dead, during this short time frame supposedly | | | | long time raised money during Halloween. Children |
| were quite dangerous for the living, causing problems | | | | would carry little UNICEF boxes and people would give |
| such as sickness and damaged crops. The Celtics | | | | them some loose change for the box. The boxes |
| tried to scare away these evil spirits by wearing | | | | were handed in at school the next day. For whatever |
| costumes and masks | | | | reason UNICEF stopped doing this in 2006. |
| Halloween is considered to be the holy day for | | | | Today the number of children going out door to door |
| Satanists. The Celtics lit bonfires on the hilltops in order | | | | has decreased. Halloween has again in a way |
| to frighten away the evil spirits. Today many people go | | | | become a time to ward off the evil spirits around us. |
| to great extremes to bring the scare back into the | | | | Parents need to carefully check any candy that the |
| season by decorating their houses with spooky | | | | kids bring home due to the sick actions of some |
| decorations for Halloween. | | | | individuals. Razor blades and pins have been found in |
| When we think of Halloween we usually think of death, | | | | candy apples. Candy has been found not to even be |
| evil, magic, the occult, mythical monsters, ghosts, | | | | candy. Every year you hear more horror stories |
| witches and of course the devil. | | | | concerning Halloween. |
| The tradition of giving out candy on Halloween | | | | The trend now seems to be to have a party for the |
| stemmed from people putting food on their doorstep | | | | children at the school or a hall. Monetary donations are |
| to appease the spirits which would then safeguard | | | | made so Halloween candy can be purchased for the |
| their home. The pumpkins were also used to ward off | | | | children. It's not quite the same as going out door to |
| evil spirits. The Celtics believed by carving the | | | | door but it is much safer. |