Category: Halloween

Carnivals—This popular form of Halloween entertainment may have originally developed as an institutionalized alternative to the destructive PRANKING of the 1920s and 1930s. Halloween carnivals…

Candy Corn—This popular Halloween confection was invented by the sons of two German emigrants to America. The Goelitz Confectionery Co. invented candy corn in the…

Candy—Candy first became popular at 19th century VICTORIAN PARTIES, when “taffy pulling” was a typical activity for youngsters. In fact, a 1908 Good Housekeeping article…

Candles—Candles are one of the few constants in all versions of Halloween, at all times and all places; even in twenty-first century America, no house…

Calcannon Night— Writing in his Diary from 1828, Humphrey O’Sullivan mentions that Halloween was sometimes called “Calcannon Night,” after the eating of COLCANNON on the…

Calan-Gaeaf— Welsh term for Halloween night; it literally refers to the Calends of Winter, which begins on November 1. SOURCE: The Halloween Encyclopedia Second Edition…

Cake—Cakes and bread were probably first associated with Halloween because of the holiday’s proximity to HARVEST. The 1580 edition of Five Hundred Points of Good…

Cailleach—Means “old woman,” and also refers to the last sheaf of CORN at the end of HARVEST; like the CORN DOLLY, this sheaf was sometimes…

Cabbages (see also KALE)—Cabbage is one of the most important FOOD items associated with Halloween, especially in Scotland. This folk rhyme even seems to make…

Cabbage Night—Name sometimes applied (mainly in eastern parts of the United States) to the night before Halloween, when PRANKING (such as pulling up and throwing…