When is Halloween – October 31st?
Saturday is probably the best day of the week to celebrate Halloween. This is especially true of this autumn festival because unlike May Day, Halloween is not a public holiday. We are lucky this year that the Halloween 2009 date falls at the weekend, and for the first time since 1998, Halloween will be on a Saturday.
Origins of the Halloween Date
The date of many ancient festivals centred on the first of the month, for example May Day, and Llamas on the 1st of August. However, our ancestors showed advanced thinking in starting the celebrations at midnight. It was not long that they hit upon an even better plan, and that was to start the revelry on the evening before the main festival. Samhain, a Celtic festival to celebrate the new year on the 1st of November, was particularly susceptible to starting on the eve, that is 31st of October.
With the spread of Christianity in the first millennium, Church leaders emphasised the importance of All Saints day on the 1st of November. This date was also known as All Hallows and gradually, the name for the night before All Hallows changed to hallow’s eve, then hallow e’en and finally Halloween.
Ten Funny Halloween Shorts
- For 2009 Halloween the the most popular mask is the Arnold Schwarzenegger mask. And the best part? With a mouth full of candy you will sound just like him. – Conan O’Brien
One for luck: What does a hungry ghost want? Ice scream.
Witches and Halloween
What separates the Halloween witch from sister wicce is her broomstick. In pagan festivals the broomstick is associated with cleansing and initiation rituals. It is easy to see how flying could enter the Halloween picture, because this is a time when the spirits were coming down to earth, and also the living were high from eating magic mushrooms and other hallucinogenic potions. And of course her caldron was handy for witches to brew up spells to control those who offended her; take Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the three witches famous refrain: ‘Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble’.
The Cost of Halloween
These raw numbers be-fuddle Will and Guy, however we understand the big picture well enough. At Halloween people spend most on candy and sweets, followed by costumes. We were surprised that the amount spent on decor has doubled. This is not due to a dramatic rise in the cost of a pumpkin, more that people are buying battery powered accessories that scream or light-up.
- Candy ($2.1 billion)
- Costumes ($1.6 billion)
- Halloween decor ($0.7 billion)
It shows what we know, at first we thought these figures were million, when it turned out on close inspection they were in BILLIONS of dollars.
While Americans spend an average of $72 on Halloween, they spend more on merchandise for Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Easter. I also find it hard to believe, that even sales for Father’s Day cards and gifts outstrip those of Halloween.
One theme that runs through Halloween, is pure fun and self-indulgence. You don’t have to buy presents for friends and relatives, you just by ‘stuff’ for yourself.
Trick or Treat
Halloween 2009 Postage Stamps
Dates of the Four Fire Festivals
1st May Beltane – May Day
Please send us your events for Halloween 2009
