Yes, it used to be a night for lots of pagan celebrations.
Yes, some people still do that.
We just give out candy to kids. And listen to our kids say things like what Bigger Girl yelled yesterday when Hope cat was having one of those moments with the Hazelnut.
"Will you two cut it out! You're fighting like...oh, never mind!"
Ah, kids. Even when they are too big to take out to get candy, they can still make you smile. Just in different ways.
Today is:
Admission Day -- Nevada, US
Allantide -- Cornwall, England
All Hallows Eve -- Christian
Apple and Candle Night -- Wales
Books for Treats Day -- San Jose, CA, US (give gently used books to kids, not candy -- feed their brains, not their cavities!)
Chaing Kai-Shek Day -- Taiwan
Dias de los Muertos -- Mexico, esp. Michoacan and Oaxaca (through Nov. 2; ceremonies, sand sculptures, decorated altars, and parties through the nights in the cemeteries)
Dookie Apple Night -- Newcastle, England
Duck Apple Night -- Liverpool, England
Feast of Sekhmet Bast Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar
Festival of Inner Worlds -- Pagan (fight between the old and new year)
Ghostwriter's Day
Hallowe'en or Beggar's Night
Increase Your Psychic Powers Day -- originated in England in the 19th century, some celebrated on the 30th
King Father Nordom Sihanouk's Birthday -- Cambodia
National Candy Apple Day
National Knock-Knock Joke Day
National Magic Day -- in honor of Harry Houdini, who died on this day in 1926
National UNICEF Day
Nut-Crack Night -- Scotland; England
October Bank Holiday -- Ireland
Old Celtic New Year's Eve
Out of the Broom Closet Day -- Pagan, Heathen, and all earth-based and ethnic religions
Reformation Day -- Protestant Christian
Samhain (northern hemisphere) / Beltane (southern hemisphere) -- Druids, Gaels, Welsh peoples, Neopagans, Wiccans (begins at sunset)
Scare a Friend Day -- just not so much that he/she isn't a friend any more
Senior Absurdity Day -- Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY, US (a day the kids look forward to each year)
Sneak Some of the Candy Yourself Before the Kids Start Knocking Day
St. Quentin's Day
St. Wolfgang's Day (Patron of carpenters and woodcarvers)
Thump-the-Door Night -- Isle of Mann
Trick or Treat Night
Vetmaetr -- Norse Calendar (Winter Nights; beginning of winter, the New Year, and the start of Odin leading the Wild Hunt)
Youth Honor Day -- Iowa, US
Anniversaries Today:
Nevada becomes the 36th US State, 1964
Birthdays Today:
Adam Horovitz, 1966
Peter Jackson, 1961
Larry Mullen, Jr., 1961
John Candy, 1950
Jane Pauley, 1950
Deidre Hall, 1947
David Ogden Stiers, 1942
Michael Landon, 1936
Dan Rather, 1931
Michael Collins, 1930
Barbara Bel Geddes, 1922
Dale Evans, 1912
Ethel Waters, 1896
Chaing Kai-shek, 1887
Juliette Low, 1860
John Keats, 1795
Jan Vermeer, 1632
Today in History:
Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites after their return to Jerusalem from exile, BC445
First All Hallows Eve observed to honor all the saints, 834
Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door, marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 1517
Georg Ludwig van Hannover is crowned as the English King George I, 1714
Execution of Girondins at Paris during the Reign of Terror, 1793
Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents the miner's safety lamp, 1815
A standard uniform is approved for US Postal workers, 1868
A tropical cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die, 1876
John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tire, 1888
Arthur Conan Doyle publishes "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", 1892
Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States, 1913
The Battle of Beersheba of WWI marks the last successful cavalry charge in history, 1917
The first of 160 consecutive days of 100°F + temps at Marble Bar, Australia, 1923
World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress, 1924
Mt. Rushmore sculptures are completed, 1941
The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal, 1956
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards, 1984
EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board, 1999
Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted, 1999
Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station, which has been continually crewed since, 2000
Surfer Bethany Hamilton loses her left arm and 3 liters of blood in a tiger shark attack; within a month she would be back on her board, and competing again within the year, 2003
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