{"id":6005,"date":"2013-10-22T14:43:25","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T12:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.pricecheck.co.za\/?p=6005"},"modified":"2013-10-22T14:43:25","modified_gmt":"2013-10-22T12:43:25","slug":"trick-or-treat-the-low-down-on-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/trick-or-treat-the-low-down-on-halloween\/","title":{"rendered":"Trick or Treat? The lowdown on Halloween"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Have<\/a>

Have fun dressing up for Halloween.<\/p><\/div>\n

I was never was a fan of Halloween, and this is largely attributed to its cinemographic depiction \u2013 but that was then. Now, I look forward to the celebration because it not only gives us reason to dress up and play pretend<\/a>, have horror<\/a> movie marathons, eat too much candy, carve jack-o-lanterns, and generally just have some good ol\u2019 fun. I\u2019ve recently learned that it\u2019s also celebrated for religious reasons.<\/p>\n

Halloween\u2019s roots stems from the Celtic<\/a> (Gaelic) harvest festival, Samhain (pronounced sah-win). Gaels celebrated the end of harvest season, and stocked supplies to prepare for winter. Their superstitious lifestyle led them to believe that the veil separating the living and the dead would drop during this period (31 October), allowing the dead to walk amongst the living, wreaking havoc by bringing sickness and tarnishing crops. Halloween is celebrated parallel to the Christianised pagan <\/b>celebration, Hallowmas. Hallowmas is a three-day celebration to honour the dead. It starts on the 31st October and ends on the 2nd of November.\u00a0 During the Middle Ages<\/a> many pagan celebrations where merged with Christian ones, as missionaries tried to convert pagans to Christianity. Easter is another celebration that\u2019s celebrated in accordance with the pagan celebration of spring, to honour the pagan Goddess of Fertility, ?astre.\u00a0 The traditional Halloween activity of trick-or-treating also dates back to the early 15th century. Beggars would knock on people\u2019s doors on Hallows\u2019 Eve, promising to pray for the dead in exchange for food.<\/p>\n

Interesting Facts about Halloween<\/b><\/p>\n