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Liam’s Lowdown: What do you really know about Halloween?

Pumpkins, potions, and parties. Those are some of the things associated with Halloween. But how much do you really know about the holiday?
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Pumpkins, potions, and parties. Those are some of the things associated with Halloween. But how much do you really know about the holiday?

According to the History Channel, it originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would lite bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated Nov. 1 as a time to honour saints and was called All Saints Day. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve and later Halloween. Halloween marked the end of summer and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, and a time of year that was often associated with death. Celts believed on that night, the boundary between the living and the dead became blurred. On Oct. 31, it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating sweet treats.

Here are three little known (or perhaps you do know and you’re just smarter than me) associated facts with Halloween:

Pumpkins: They are a member of the gourd family, which includes cucumbers, honeydew melons, cantaloupe, watermelons and zucchini. The plants are native to Central America. The largest pumpkin pie ever baked was 2,020 pounds (I wonder how the bottom of the pastry was…As Mary Berry would say in The Great British Bake off “No one likes a soggy bottom”). In 1584, French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence region of North America and reported finding “gros melons.” The name was translated into English as “pompions”, which has evolved into “pumpkin.” The Irish created the tradition of carving pumpkins into Jack O’Lanterns. However, the original Jack O’Lanterns were not pumpkins. The Celts carved turnips of All Hallow’s Eve and placed an ember in them to ward off evil spirits.

Trick-or-treating: The custom started in the 1930s and back then children were given homemade cookies, pieces of cake, fruit, nuts, coins, and toys. In the 1950’s, candy manufacturers decided to try and get in on the act. Canadians spend roughly $400 million on Halloween candy every year. According to Statistics Canada in 2015, more than 3.8 million kids knocked on doors. In general, Canadians spent $1 billion on Halloween-related purchases that same year (Golly gee that’s higher than Somalia’s GDP)

Black cats: Apparently (though I’m skeptical), some animal shelters refuse to let people adopt black cats in the lead-up to the holiday. There are some shelters in the U.S. that fear the cats will be sacrificed. I couldn’t reach our local animal shelter to see if that’s the case in Revelstoke (But I’d bet my favourite banana shorts that it isn’t).