Weird Things You Didn’t Know About Halloween

1. Originally, you had to dance for your “treat.” Most experts trace trick-or-treating to the European practice of “mumming,” or “guising,” in which costume-wearing participants would go door-to-door performing choreographed dances, songs and plays in exchange for treats.

2. Halloween is more Irish than St. Patrick’s Day. Halloween’s origins come from a Celtic festival for the dead called “Samhain.” Celts believed the ghosts of the dead roamed Earth on this holiday, so people would dress in costumes and leave “treats” out on their front doors to appease the roaming spirits.

3. Jack-o’-lanterns were once made out of turnips, beets and potatoes — not pumpkins. Based on an old Irish tale about a man named Stingy Jack, the Irish carved scary faces into turnips, beets and potatoes to scare away Stingy Jack or any other spirits of the night.

4. In a few American towns, Halloween was originally referred to as “Cabbage Night.” This came from a Scottish fortune-telling game, where girls used cabbage stumps to predict information about their future husbands.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/24/halloween-weird-facts_n_5948456.html