By Carolann Fisher Linn
Superstitions. In the US we shun black cats at Halloween (some shelters won’t allow you to rescue them in October), walking under ladders gives us the shudders, we carry rabbit’s feet for luck, and we always play our lucky numbers when buying lottery tickets or playing roulette. Superstitions are so much a part of our lives that we don’t even recognize them as such. Have you ever blessed someone when they sneezed? Aha, caught ya! What are some of your favorites? Salt over your shoulder? Avoiding sidewalk cracks? Avoiding the 13th floor? Do you suffer from triskaidekaphobia (fear of 13) or Paraskevidekatriaphobia (fear of Friday 13th)? How many times have you knocked on wood so as not to jinx something? (In ancient time trees were worshipped and thought to be homes of gods).
And, then there is Halloween, which, by the way, is thought to have originated in 4000 BC. Please read on unless you have Samhainophobia (fear of Halloween). No other holiday has as many superstitions attached to it. Despite the common phobia of spiders, it is believed that if you see a spider during Halloween, it means that a loved one is watching over you, or wealth, if it jumps into your pocket!!!!
Looking for a husband, ladies? Scottish girls would soak bedsheets with water on Halloween night and hang them in front of a fire to see what their future spouse looks like. Woman initiated those traditions trying to find husbands, because it was the Middle Ages and women were for marrying, right? They stared into a mirror on Halloween night hoping to see the face of their future spouse. Hey single ladies, got a handful of hazelnuts? Here’s one for you … Name each one with your wished-for sweetheart’s name, toss them into a fire. The one that burns completely and doesn’t pop will be your future hubby.
Send the kiddoes out for trick and treat and know they will bring home roughly 11,000 calories. Lay the 365 teaspoons of sugar on the table and see the 7X recommended daily intake for your kids. By the way, be prepared to shell out the average of $100 that Americans spend for decorations, candy, and costumes. At today’s prices, double that. You may read that Halloween is the second highest-grossing commercial holiday. Snopes.com says, not so fast. Per Snopes: “Unless Halloween evolves into an occasion for giving on a scale considerably greater than handing out a bit of candy to bands of trick-or-treaters, it may not surpass occasions such as Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day and approach the No. 2 slot in retail sales anytime soon.”
But here are some valid #1’s (the largest): Halloween parade – “the nation’s most wildly creative public participatory event in the greatest city in the world” – New York is being held on 10/31 at 7pm. Check it out at https://halloween-nyc.com/. 50,000 participants join the parade in wild costumes, watched by over 2 million. Keene City in New Hampshire displayed 30,580 lit jack-o-lanterns at Keene Pumpkin Festival in 2013, breaking the Guinness world record again – 8 times. Canton Ohio has the largest haunted house IN THE WORLD! Factory of Terror has five separate themes to choose from. https://fotohio.com/. Reese’s peanut butter cups rank #1 in preferred candy, followed by Snickers. Illinois is the #1 ranking pumpkin production state with an average farm producing 40,000 pounds per acre.
A few more tidbits: First produced in 1888, candy corn used to be known as Chicken Feed. It is also dubbed reindeer corn, cupid corn, Indian corn and bunny corn. Speaking of pets, in 2019, researchers discovered that Americans spent nearly a Half Billion dollars on costumes for their pets, the most popular being pumpkins, bees, hotdogs, and superheroes. Boys love to be superheroes too. Little gals still love the princesses. Both love anyone from the Pikachu group. Older kids love the scarier, gorier characters. Now, if they want to see a Halloween witch for real, they may choose to wear their clothes inside-out and walk backward on October 31st. This stems from the belief that upon doing so, a witch would appear to them at midnight. It’s a fun holiday. Don’t be scared.