Holidays and festivals have been celebrated at the end of October for thousands of years. In 5th Century BC, the Celts celebrated Samhain (sow-en) believing that the spirits of all those who had died the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess. The Celts thought that by dressing up in ghoulish costumes they could frighten the spirits away.

During the 8th century, the Christian church made November 1st, "All Saints'Day" and the night before was known as "All Hallows Eve". Eventually this name became Halloween. The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1800's by European immigrants.

The custom of trick-or-treating originated with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, people would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors.

The National Confectioners Association estimates that for Halloween 2000, a whopping one billion nine hundred fifty-three million dollars will be spent on candy. 80% of children say their favorite Trick or Treat candy is either chocolate or gum.

Dia De Los Muertos takes place on All Souls Day, November 1st and 2nd. It is the one day a year that the dead are given in which to resume their former lives for 24 hours, and the skeletons celebrate by dancing and singing. The holiday represents a celebration of life, through embracing death. Rites include decorating alters with flowers, candy and fruit.

On Dia de Los Muertos, people dress up as skeletons. Parades are held, wherein an open coffin is carried, bearing a smiling corpse who dances, waves at the crowds and catches candy, flowers and fruit that the spectators throw to him.

Being feast days, families arrange the decorated alters with votives, pictures of their deceased loved ones, and bread, candy, fruit and flowers. Neighbors and family go from home to home, feasting and celebrating. The next day, they go to the cemetery to picnic, tend the graves of their loved ones, and play music. Many spend the night.

The Jack-o-lantern custom comes from Irish folklore. Originally the Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" but found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips in America.

World's Records: Fastest Carver: Jerry Ayers of Baltimore, Ohio - Pumpkin carved in 37 seconds
Most Pumpkins: Jerry Ayers of Baltimore, Ohio - One ton of pumpkins carved in seven hours and 11 minutes.

FOR YOUR SCAAARRRY HALLOWEEN BASH...

Haunted Candles
MATERIALS: Candle sticks and Candle holders

DIRECTIONS: Here's a spooky trick to go along with a night of telling ghost stories. Just cut each candle in two at different levels. Remove a small piece of the wick from the middle. Join the pieces back together by heating the cut ends. When one of the candles burns down to the missing section of wick, it will go out. Scary!