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Decorating Basics
Today Halloween is one of the most popular of all the holidays, growing in popularity every year. Between dressing up in costumes, decorating in Vintage themed Halloween decorations, going to parties and the beloved tradition of trick or treating, what's not to love about this traditional celebration?
Halloween Comes to America
Halloweens roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, from which the modern-day Halloween is derived. The ceremony took place on the night of October 31, marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the dark winter. These ancient ancestors believed that on all hallows eve, the boundary between the living and dead became blurred — the dead returned as ghosts and they could walk amongst the living. This is how the costumes became so popular; wearing a costume you were able to hide in plain sight, by confusing the living dead.
Popular Halloween Decorating Symbols and Their Origins
Jack-O-Lantern: The Jack-o-Lantern has long been one of the most popular Halloween decorations, traditional and abiding symbols used. In our modern day, the Jack-o-Lantern is traditionally carved from a pumpkin, past times was potato, turnip or even melons with a face inscribed into the orb shaped vegetables/fruits that may vary from the most frightful stare to something far more interesting using popular satirical witty theme.
Skeletons: The skeleton has been associated with Halloween and Halloween decorating for thousands of years; the Celtic people saw the skull, as the house of the soul.
Ghosts: Ghosts are likely one of the oldest and most seen of all the Halloween symbols. Back when Halloween first started, it was taught that spirits of the newly deceased would be out and about at the dawn of winter, intermingling with the living however they liked. Halloween spirits were thought to be out in full force, the idea of a seeing a ghost on Halloween would not have been considered all that farfetched.
Black Cats: The black cat has long been used in Halloween decor. Scaredy cat being the most recognized of the fabulous cat decorations, with its arched back and screeching mouth full of fierce teeth. Black cat is associated with witches, or even the devil himself. The black cat was often thought to be the witches familiar or sidekick. Sometimes black cats were said to be gifts to witches from Satan; others went as far to say that the black cat was the devil himself in disguise. Today we just see them as a fun frightful decoration, mostly cute scaredy cat.
Witches: The witch has always been associated with Halloween. The cackling, spell-making green faced hag witch, however is probably mostly created from fiction, we all know a few to live in our neighborhoods. Making spells in her cauldron and flying around on her broom is certainly a fictionalized scene. We all know how much we love the Disney movie “Hocus Pocus” 1993 and how much fun it is.
Bats: Like many other traditional Halloween symbols, the bat's history with Halloween goes back deep into ancient days. Bats are seen as mysterious vampire creatures. Experts say that nocturnal animals are often associated with death and darkness. "They engage in mysterious activities in the dark and so they have been cloaked in superstition since ancient times,”
Spiders: With their black long legs and hairy knuckles spiders are the perfect Halloween decoration. They even bring their own decorations, spider webs. The main reason behind spiders being a symbol of Halloween is their connection with abandoned houses aka haunted mansions. Spiders, along with black cats and rats were believed to be evil companions of witches and helped to decorate and used in many spells the witches wanted to cast.
Halloween Colors: The black and orange color scheme has been used since the beginnings of the holiday. Orange represents the color of the harvest and the color black is the color representing death. With the addition of purple these colors are a definite winner for decorating for Halloween.
