Wacky Wednesday is a place for all things wacky. Here we look at the silly, funny and weird things around us.
Happy Halloween week. I have waited all year for this week. At work, a few of my fellow Halloween loving co-workers have cooked up a “spirit week”(fitting, no?). Each day this week we have dressed up based on different themes. Monday was our favorite character, Tuesday was dress as a student day, today was superhero day, tomorrow is what we are actually being for Halloween (seeing it is the last day we will have students before the big day on Saturday), and Friday is pajama day(because we can!).
I love being able to celebrate Halloween all month long and this week has solidified in my heart my love for all things spooky.
If you are like me, you probably think you know lots about this holiday. But here are a few wacky facts about Halloween that even me, the lover of all things Oct. 31, didn’t know:
Candy Corn was once called “Chicken Feed”
Maybe you, like me, also find this candy repulsive, but it is fun to know that it was once called chicken feed. I think they should have just marketed it to farmers with chickens and saved us all. (Sorry if you are actually a fan of candy corn. Can I call you a chicken now?)
Read more about candy corn’s origins here: https://www.eater.com/2018/10/24/18015026/halloween-what-is-candy-corn-pumpkin
Trick or Treating gets its origin in Celtic Culture
The Festival of Samhain was celebrated by the Celts. Basically, on the evening of Oct. 31, the Celts believed that the dead came back to earth. Considered a sacred night, the people would gather to pay homage to the deceased through sacrifices. In order to keep the lost souls from anger, people would leave out food. They would also dress up in animal skins to disguise themselves and to scare the unwelcome spirits. I guess they only wanted to honor the dead, not interact with them.
Read more about Samhain here:
https://www.history.com/news/halloween-trick-or-treating-origins
You can thank the Irish for the tradition of carving Jack O’Lanterns
The Irish have a myth about a character named, Stingy Jack. Jack was tricky
and fooled the Devil out of money. When it came time for Jack to die, heaven
wouldn’t take him and the Devil wouldn’t let him into hell, making him a wanderer
on earth. The Irish began carving scary faces into turnips and other squash to
scare Jack’s wandering soul away.
Read more about Jack here:
We don’t know where the word “witch” comes from
The best guess is that it comes from the Wicca term “wicce” which means
“female sorceress”. There are other possible meanings which you can read
more about here:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/53438/10-weird-facts-about-witches
Why Black and Orange
If you look around right now, you will see lots of different shades of orange in our great fall foliage. We also see various hues of orange in pumpkins. Orange is a harvest color and fall is all about harvest. Black on the other hand is a perfect complimentary color to orange. They just look good together. But Black also is symbolic of darkness and evil which fits really good with the all spooky vibes of Halloween.
Read more about Halloween colors here:
