Jack-o’-Lantern Magic

IF you celebrate Halloween or its coinciding pagan festival Samhain (pronounced sow-in), you probably associate this time of year with traditional macabre symbols, like witches in black garb with pointy hats, ghosts and skeletons, black cats and spiders, bubbling cauldrons and broomsticks, and perhaps most famously, the jack-o’-lantern. For many folks, the jack-o’-lantern is the

Halloween traditions and their history

Halloween is a special holiday filled with many fun aspects and traditions. Carving pumpkins, dressing up in costumes, trick-or-treating, witches and black cats are some of the first things that come to mind when one thinks about Halloween. But, the history of Halloween is one that is broad, mysterious and full of lore. The origins

The Legend Of Witches Flying On Brooms Explained

Witches flying through the air on brooms is an iconic image associated with Halloween. But how did the two — witches, brooms — become associated with one another? It’s hard to say, since both have folklore reaching back hundreds of years. Most trace the origin of Halloween to the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, a

ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS

HOW DID YOUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS START? Why does Halloween make us think of trick-or-treating, witches on broomsticks, bobbing for apples, and carved pumpkins? Why are carved pumpkins called jack-o’-lanterns? Here’s a look back at the origins of Halloween traditions and why we celebrate Halloween the way we do today. WHY IS IT CALLED “HALLOWEEN”?

PLEIADES: THE SEVEN SISTER STARS ON HALLOWEEN

It’s an annual autumn ritual: The reappearance of Pleiades, the glorious “Seven Sisters.” Around Halloween, they always rise in the east before 7 PM and are nicely up after 8 PM. Learn more about the Pleiades—and their connection to All Hallows’ Eve. The Pleiades is a tightly packed cluster of stars. There’s nothing else like

Lookback: History of Halloween

Halloween is celebrated every year on October 31st. Today, Halloween is a time where people dress up in costumes, go trick or treating, carve jack-o-lanterns, tell ghost stories, and watch scary movies. Where did these Halloween traditions start? It is believed that Halloween’s origins are with the Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts were a

If You See a Spider on Halloween, You May Want to Think Twice About Killing It

Human beings need to participate in some really funky mental gymnastics to feel special. Take holidays. for instance. You don’t see a family of beavers huddling around a fire in the wintertime exchanging gifts while they sip warm beverages and munch on ginger snaps. It’s probably because they’re too busy building dams with their tails

THE DEATH AND REVIVAL OF HALLOWEEN POSTCARDS

When you feel a nip in the air and notice the leaves turning shades of red, yellow, and orange, Halloween is around the corner. Soon, groups of pint-sized ghouls and goblins will be lining up at your doorstep declaring “Trick or Treat.” It’s hard to believe that our fun-filled Halloween originated from the 2,000-year-old Gaelic

Ghost stories, legends and mysteries: The haunted history of the Outer Banks

Many places have myths, legends, mysteries and ghost stories. Of course, a small, seaside community whose written history extends back hundreds of years and rests alongside an area called “The Graveyard of the Atlantic” will have its share of tales and mysteries. The most famous is the Lost Colony, the 16th-century English settlement on Roanoke

Vintage Halloween Decor Is Trending for 2021, and It’s So Much Creepier Than We Expected

If you’ve been following this year’s fall design trends, you’ve probably noticed that retro. Is. In. So, it should come as no surprise that vintage Halloween decor is trending hard this year. Luckily, we’ve got a lot to work with, and apparently, Americans were just as obsessed with Halloween decor in the early 1900s as