Halloween customs:
1. Pumpkin lantern
The symbol of Halloween is the pumpkin lantern, and there are also stories of carved pumpkins used as lanterns. This again comes from ancient Ireland. The story is about a man named JACK who is a drunkard and loves to play pranks. One day, JACK tricked the devil into climbing into a tree, and then carved a cross on the tree stump to intimidate the devil so that he did not dare to come down. Then JACK made a three-part agreement with the devil, asking the devil to agree to cast a spell so that JACK would never commit a crime and let him get off the tree. After JACK died, his soul could neither go to heaven nor go to hell, so his undead soul had to rely on a small candle to illuminate and guide him to wander between heaven and earth. In the ancient Irish legend, this small candle was placed in a hollowed-out radish, which was called "JACKLANTERNS". The ancient radish lamp evolved into today's Jack-O-Lantern made of pumpkins. It is said that soon after the Irish arrived in the United States, they discovered that pumpkins were superior to radishes in terms of origin and carving, so pumpkins became a Halloween pet.
2. Holiday food
The symbol of Halloween is the pumpkin lantern, so pumpkin pie is also a festive food on Halloween, especially in the United States. Pumpkin pie is a traditional home-cooked snack in the southern United States from late autumn to early winter. It is eaten every day, especially around Halloween, and it has become a seasonal food. In addition, dried pumpkin seeds are often used as Halloween food. Since Halloween is approaching the apple harvest period, caramel apples (caramel apples, toffee apples) have become a holiday food. The method is to insert the apple directly into the bamboo skewer from the fruit stem, and then hold the bamboo skewer to dip the apple in the syrup and coat it with a layer of sugar. Sometimes it is then covered with nuts, marshmallows, cookies, popcorn, etc., and sometimes some are added. Cinnamon powder has become a delicate snack. Sometimes it is dipped in chocolate and covered with colored chocolate rice. The sweet and sour apples go well with the icing on the outside, and children especially love them! Caramel apples are considered a festive food from Halloween to Christmas and are popular in the United States. In the United States, every household will prepare caramel apples to give to children who come to ask for candy on Halloween. However, there were cases where someone put needles and blades into the apples to intentionally hurt others, and the habit of giving caramel apples gradually disappeared. Although most of them are just pranks, and in real cases the children were only slightly injured, many parents are still worried. There is also a hot apple cider related to apples. Cider is apple juice or cider. This drink is made by heating cider and adding cinnamon, cloves, and sugar to boil it. The alcohol has almost evaporated when heated. . This drink is very popular in winter in Europe and the United States. It is drunk all the way from Christmas to spring. Mulled wine is also often drunk at this time. The method is quite similar, that is, replacing apple cider with red wine. On Halloween night, children and teenagers will dress up as ghosts and go down the street asking for candies, so all kinds of candies can be regarded as a kind of food for the occasion. The most popular candies sold in stores at this time are candies with various ghost shapes, and thousands of candies. The orange, brown or black colors commonly seen on Holy Night are packaged sugar.
3. Trick or treat without being invited
An interesting part of Halloween is "Trickortreat". This custom did not originate from Ireland, but began in the European Christian Church in the ninth century AD. . At that time, November 2 was called “ALLSOULSDAY” by Christians. On this day, believers trek through remote countryside, going from village to house begging for "soul cakes" made of flour and raisins. It is said that people who donate cakes believe in the prayers of church monks and expect to receive God's protection and let them The deceased relatives will enter heaven as soon as possible. This tradition of begging from house to house has evolved into a game in which children carry pumpkin lanterns and beg for sweets from house to house. When they met, the children dressed as ghosts and elves always threatened to "make trouble if you don't ask for food". Naturally, the host did not dare to neglect and kept saying "Please eat! Please eat!" while putting candies into the children's hands. Carry it in the large pocket.