Five Fascinating Halloween Facts

Rumour has it the witches are making their way back to occupy their Haunted House in the depths of the Garden and cause all manner of mischief. We’ve unearthed five fascinating Halloween facts to help us prepare for their arrival!

1.       The Halloween traditions that we celebrate today have been influenced over time by four very different festivals:

·         The Roman ‘Pomona’ festival, which honours the Goddess of fruit trees (we pay tribute to Pomona with apple bobbing at Halloween)

·         The Roman ‘Feralia’ festival, commemorating the dead

·         The Celtic ‘Samhain’ festival, with the harvest marking the end of the growing season and the beginning of the cold and dark winter months

·          The Catholic appointment in the 8^th Century of a special date for the feast of All Saints called ‘Alholowmesse’. The night before was called “All Hallows Even” which was eventually shortened to ‘Hallowe’en’ and finally to ‘Halloween’ as we now know it

2.       The Celts believed the dead visited the living on “All Hallows Even” and would wear masks so the spirits of the dead would not recognise them

3.       Orange and black have become the designated colours for Halloween because:

Orange =  harvest

Black = darkness and death

4.       The tradition of carved pumpkins (also called Jack O’ Lanterns) originated in Ireland. Candles were placed in hollowed-out turnips to keep away evil spirits and ghosts

5.       Legend says that if you see a spider on Halloween it is the spirit of a loved one watching over you

Who will dare to enter the Borde Hill witches’ lair and reach into their bubbling cauldron to pull out a treat…or a trick? Be warned – enter the Ghost Tent and emerge as a vampire, skeleton or witch! Turn your hand to something scarily creative and make a ghoulish mobile to take home. Brave explorers should head on down to the Adventure Playground with its zip-line, balance beams and rickety rope bridge.

Spooktacular fun is happening daily between Wednesday 24^th October and Sunday 4^th November 2012 inclusive, with all Halloween activities included in the admission price. Come and dare to be scared!!!