For thousands of years in October, different people celebrate different holidays and festivals. Halloween - one of the oldest festivals in the world. Its history goes back millennia, from the Celtic festival of Samhain, the Roman Pomona Day (the goddess of plants) and the Christian "All Saints' Day." In a strange way it combines the Celtic tradition of honoring evil spirits and Christian - worship of the saints. Halloween - the holiday of vampires, witches, ghosts and other evil spirits - which until recently widely celebrated only in the U.S., is now gaining popularity in Europe and gradually covering the countries of the former USSR.

History of Halloween & facts

What we know about this holiday, from where it originates? In addition, the day opens the door for other entities: oxides, elves, fairies. In religion, the Celts were missing all sorts of "devils" and "Journeyman," but were, for example, giants, elves, many gods and spirits, which could be dangerous for man, not because his enemies, and by virtue of the differences between them and the man "by nature"

CANDLESThe symbol of the holiday for many Irish people is a burning candle, which has traditionally placed on the east window, and burned until the end of the holiday. In the U.S. candle for Halloween are traditionally painted in orange , purple , pink or black color while scented with cinnamon or other spices with a sharp sweet-spicy scent that is firmly associated with the holiday.

That evening, in families often recalls the legend of the bronze head, which reflects an ancient Celtic custom of hunting for their heads of their enemies, who subsequently decorated tombs

HOME DECORATING

Outdoor Halloween decorations can help draw Trick-or-Treaters and even a few curious neighbors to your home. These decorations are surprisingly simple and might even give passers-by a little fright.

An odd-shaped silhouette in the window might seem like a drapery but it's actually a ghost cut from white cotton fabric taped to the glass.

Create a haunted fireplace using spooky-looking branches full of moss with bats hanging from them, black and white portraits, loads of candles, a plastic skeleton head, draped pieces of ripped gauze and a creepy portion of a picket fence.

Make your doorway something special. You can put a black yarn cobweb over the top corner, decorate a wreath with black Halloween shaped cutouts, string orange lights around the doorway and add some ghosts with white paper or material. Or, for a more subtle look, take a plain welcome mat, cut out newspaper into pumpkin shapes and spray paint the welcome mat using the shapes as stencils.

Cover your furniture with white sheets to simulate a deserted haunted house. Scatter talcum powder over the sheets to create a dust cloud when your guests sit.

HOME DECORATING

Play spooky Halloween music inside and outside your house. We've had speakers outside our home for years, and the trick-or-treaters always love the scary sounds as they come up our driveway.Pay a lot of attention to your lighting. Turn your lights very low, or even turn them off, using only candles to create a spooky Halloween glow. Of course, be careful where you place the candles for the sake of safety.

Place shrunken apple heads in the least expected places such as on dining room or kitchen chairs, in your guests' coat pockets, or at the bottom of a snack bowl. Get busy now - these little babies take a couple of weeks to reach perfection

JACK LAMPOne of the key attributes of the holiday is "a lamp Jack ( Eng. Jack-o'-Lantern) in the form of a head of a carved pumpkin with a lightedcandle or electric illumination inside.Popularity and other contour -linear light of modern industrial production: different lighting, in particular consisting of small purple or orange lights. They also decorate the home , fireplaces , encircle the bare trunks of trees and shrubs, lighting fires at night

Costumes for Halloween based on the themes of witchcraft and its images in film and literature. Children dressed in costumes and masks and go begging for candy ( English. " Trick-or-Treating ") from homeowners, saying while the traditional phrase« Trick or Treat! »-« trick or treat! "are especially popular costumes of witches,sorcerers , witches , vampires , corpses , werewolves, ghosts, mermaids, various nocturnal animals ( cat , bat , wolf , etc.), partying, carnivals, accompanied by ominous, graveyard music, howling wolves and hooting of owls and other sounds recorded in audio or video format . Popular hanging posters and the expansion of the book with the image of Dracula , witches, vampires and their symbolism

COSTUMES

"This is a traditional Christmas cookie recipe that we had in our family for many years. All I did was change the shape, so they look like fingers for our annual Halloween party. Cookies make a great conversation piece.

On the last day of October, around the world celebrates Halloween. Of course, it is not complete without a delicious meal.In hellounskuyu night pumpkin run the show from which prepare all sorts of treats and goodies.

No matter how great or terrible or was a celebration of Halloween, a treat it must be excellent! I suggest a few recipes with traditional pumpkin and apples, so popular in England in this wonderful holiday. Trick or treat! - Shouting from the doorway of your friends without even knowing what a feast you have prepared them.

Food for Halloween

1)Following a Celtic legend, the night of October 31 November 1, Druids - spirits of nature - gathered in the oak groves on hilltops (Celts believed the sacred oak trees), lit fires and brought evil spirits to sacrifice to appease them. And in the morning Druids gave people the coals of their fires, to those fueled hearths of their homes. Fire druids warmed the house for a long winter and keep the house from evil spirits

legends

2)Most mystical celebration could not grow a legend during its existence. For example, with uschestvuet legend that if you need to meet a witch, then at midnight to go out, putting things inside out and walk backwards a few stops.

3)And then there is a legend about Tykvennogm Jack. Somewhere in the dark, impassable forests, on the meadow is a large abandoned house in which he lives Pumpkin Jack who has a head - a festive pumpkin.A whole year he lives and is not showing in their homes, but once a year, just before Halloween, Pumpkin Jack goes hunting for the souls of dead people already!