Halloween is a great time of year to encourage children to color pages, create fun crafts, and design scary, creepy, or thrilling images to add to the walls and windows of home. These simple and fun Halloween coloring pages are fun and always free! Enjoy the fun and be sure to read about Halloweens History and fun facts surrounding the unique day!
Halloween History and Facts:
Halloween’s origins date back more than 2,000 years. On what we consider November 1, Europe’s Celtic peoples celebrated their New Year’s Day, called Samhain (SAH-win).
The night before Samhain—what we know as Halloween—spirits were thought to walk the Earth as they traveled to the afterlife. Fairies, demons, and other creatures were also said to be abroad.
Celtic Costumes
In addition to sacrificing animals to the gods and gathering around bonfires, Celts often wore costumes—probably animal skins—to confuse spirits, perhaps to avoid being possessed, according to the American Folklife Center at the U.S. Library of Congress.
By wearing masks or blackening their faces, Celts are also thought to have impersonated dead ancestors.
Young men may have dressed as women and vice versa, marking a temporary breakdown of normal social divisions.
In an early form of trick-or-treating, Celts costumed as spirits are believed to have gone from house to house engaging in silly acts in exchange for food and drink—a practice inspired perhaps by an earlier custom of leaving food and drink outdoors as offerings to supernatural beings.
Christian Influence
Samhain was later transformed as Christian leaders co-opted pagan holidays. In the seventh century Pope Boniface IV decreed November 1 All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day.
The night before Samhain continued to be observed with bonfires, costumes, and parades, though under a new name: All Hallows’ Eve—later “Halloween.”
Halloween Arrives in America
European immigrants brought Halloween to the United States, and the celebration really gathered steam in the 1800s, when Irish-American immigration exploded.
Anoka, Minnesota, may be home to the United States’ oldest official Halloween celebration. Beginning in 1920, the city began staging a parade and bonfire.
Anoka historians say townsfolk wanted to curb Halloween pranks that loosed cows on Main Street and upended outhouses.
HALLOWEEN TODAY
Halloween is now more of a special day in which children dress up in all sorts of costumes from scary to clever, to cute and silly. Children very rarely remember how Halloween came to be, yet they always remember the saying “Trick or Treat” and that for the most part- it means they gets treats and lots of them!
Total U.S. Halloween spending is predicted to be around $5 billion, second only to Christmas!
What Average Americans Spend on Halloween
• Halloween Costumes: $35
• Halloween Candy: $22
• Decorations: $28
• Greeting Cards: $4
