As the winter draws closer(feeling it right now brrr), my favorite festival by far is Halloween. I've always loved it. I have great memories of my childhood(and not so childish) halloween experiences. From trick or treating and the fun and games at home with the family bobbing for apples and coins, telling ghost stories and eating treats till I was sick.

                         It's no different for me today in my adulthood. I always get that exciting feeling when the days get duller and colder and the leaves are covering the footpaths leaving the trees bare and scrawny looking. It's a time of year when all the harvesting is coming to an end and we get ready for the long and cold winter ahead.

                          I wonder how many of ye know the origins of halloween. I know a lot of people think it all started in America. Well that just isn't true!! Believe it or not it is an old Celtic tradition originating in Ireland and Scotland where the pagan Celts celebrated the autumn harvest and thanked the gods for the harvest and asked to bless the next seasons crops for a good harvest again.

                           They had bonfires, offerings(treats) to the gods to appease them, singing and dancing and also they dressed as monsters, witches and goblins to ward of evil from the land. Through the years as people explored and travelled looking for new lands and homes, they took the traditions with them and while practising them in other lands, introduced the tradition to the rest of the world. 

                            Halloween is now a worldwide celebration with more and more countries adopting it and integrating it into their own cultures. Pretty cool hey! 

                             Here's a link for further reading  Origin of Halloween

Thanks for being here 😀