I took the day off to enjoy our wedding anniversary, that’s right, we are THAT awesome. The last few weeks have been hard and we deserve some fun damnit! So tonight, we’re going out to a nice dinner and then a nerd rap concert.
But before all that jazz, I thought in spirit of the holiday, I would post some interesting facts about Halloween. You may or may not know them, but they’re fun and this is happening people.
- Halloween is thought to have originated around 4000 B.C., which means that Halloween has been around for over 6000 years.
- According to Irish legend, Jack-O-Lanterns are named after a stringy man named Jack who, because he tricked the Devil several times, was forbidden entrance to both heaven and hell. He was condemned to wander the Earth, waving his lantern to lead people away from their paths.
- During the pre-Halloween celebration of Samhain, bonfires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the long, hard winter. Often Druid priest would throw the bones of cattle into the flames and, hence, “bone fire” became “bonfire.”
- Scottish girls believed they could see the images of their future husband if they hung wet sheets in front of the fire on Halloween. (See? Halloween IS romantic!)
- The word “witch” comes from the Old English wicce, meaning “wise woman.” In fact, wiccan were highly respected people at one time. According to popular belief, witches held one of their two main meetings, or sabbats, on Halloween night.
So light some bonfires and dance with the dead in the streets kids, it is Halloween everyone make a scene!
I always thought bonfire was due to “bon” meaning good in French, so it was supposed to mean “good fire!” Well I learned something new today, and bone fire is decidedly more bad ass. I’m totally winning the next trivia contest for sure.
I can never really claim that I was legitimately wiccan, but I’ve been to a few sabbats and Halloween was always my favorite.
That was my favorite thing that I learned while looking up facts. I also didn’t know the legend of Jack but I did know that the first jack-0-lanterns were made out of turnips.
I knew about the turnip thing because I don’t think pumpkins are all the common in Ireland, and I think I heard about the Jack legend, but it’s always good to get a refresher.
Oooh, I didn’t know the one about bones contributing to the name bonfire. Very interesting. 😀 Good facts. Glad you guys got to have a fun Halloween/anniversary!
We should go back to calling them bone fires. Much more brutal.
Seriously! 😀