6. Halloween Used To Serve As A Superstitious Blind Date
There are several rituals that if done on October 31st are suppose to give people a glimpse of the future. Most of these were more bizarre than useful or focused on matchmaking. According to one tradition, if a person wears their clothes inside out and then walks backwards on Halloween, he or she will see a witch at midnight. For, another girls that hung wet sheets in front of the fire on Halloween were suppose to be able to see images of their future husband in them. Another belief was if a girl walked down the stairs at midnight while looking in a mirror she could see a loved ones face. Still another asked eligible woman to name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burned to ashes rather than popping or exploding, the story went, represented the girl's future husband.
5. It's New Year For Witches
In Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches, and to hear an owl's call meant someone was about to die. Witches were originally not evil beings, merely wise women and wiccans as they were called were highly respected for a time. The word 'witch' comes from the Old English wicce, meaning 'wise woman.' According to popular belief, witches held one of their two main annual meetings, or sabbats, on Halloween night and thus worked magic on that particular night. There is debate on what the other night is, with some believing the other dates were February 1st , February 2nd, May 1st or August 1st. Modern wiccans still celebrate Halloween as their New Year day.
4. Jack-O-Lanterns Are Named For A Stingy Irish Drunk
According to Irish legend, Jack OLanterns were named after a stingy man named Jack, who naturally was called Stingy Jack. Stingy Jack tricked the devil several times with this ranging from not tricking the devil to pay for his drink to forcing the devil to stay in a tree by carving a cross into it. Eventually he was forbidden entrance into both heaven and hell and was condemned to wander the Earth. He does this today, waving his lantern to lead people away from their paths.