The pumpkin or vegetable marrow (Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita maxima) is several annual, creeping, trailing plants of the gourdgenus with heart shaped five lobed leaves and a large egg-shaped or globose yellow-orange edible fruit which is popularly cooked and eaten as a vegetable or in a pie and also hollowed out to make lanterns for Halloween. Research Pumpkin
Beltane is the Celtic festival of the god of light. It is held in Scotland on May the 1st, and is the spring equivalent of Halloween. The Beltane of the Irish was celebrated on the 21st of June. Beltane was usually celebrated by kindling fires on the hills and eminences. In early times it was compulsory on all to have their domestic fires extinguished before the Beltane fires were lighted, and it was customary to rekindle the former from the embers of the latter. Formerly in England dancing took place to may poles in village greens to celebrate the festival, but this practice subsided during the 1970s and is now almost extinct. Research Beltane
Halloween (All Hallow Even) was the last night of the British Celtic year (equivalent to the modern new year's eve) - October the 31st, later adopted as the Eve of All Saints by the Christian church in Britain when the Pope of Rome in 610 ordered that the heathen Pantheon should be converted into a Christian church and dedicated to the honour of all martyrs.
Halloween was a Celtic fire festival and a day on which the spirits of the dead revisited their old homes and evil spirits roamed the land. Superstition, based in part upon the reality that November the 1st (Samhain) ushered in the cold, dark months of winter, encouraged the Celts to placate the spirits of nature at Halloween, lest the next year's crops should fail, and because of the presence of so many spirits at large at this time, and the strong supernatural forces at work, it was a time for divination. Later, games were held throughout Britain for teenagers, including apple and sixpence bobbing, success at these games being thought to guarantee good fortune for the coming year and to enable divination with regard to forthcoming marriages. In early Ireland, it is reported that children were sacrificed to placate the evil spirits at Halloween, but this is more probably propaganda than a reality. During the 19th century Irish immigrants introduced to America the concept of mischief on Halloween, with young men playing tricks on residents and demanding a treat lest they should play a trick on them - an echo of sacrifices of foods to the spirits so as to placate them. This practise having originated in the North of England, while elsewhere young people demanded of their elders to be shown a magic trick or receive a treat by way of a forfeit by the elder.
Welsh tradition had it that on Halloween, an evil spirit sat on every stile. While in Scotland the notion of the goblin was invented, which only came out on Halloween. Modern Halloween is not, as is popularly thought, an American invention, but a survival of an old British festival. Sacrifices are still made to placate the witches, goblins, ghosts and other supernatural spirits, though these now generally take the form of sweets given to costumed children dressed as representations of the spirits, that call from house to house demanding of those devoid of supernatural powers (proven by performing a trick) tribute (a treat) so as to ensure good fortune the following year. Research Halloween
The Halloween Virus is a computer virus which infects .COM and .EXE files including COMMAND.COM. The virus is loaded into memory by executing an infected program and then affects the computer's runtime operation, corrupts program or overlay files. Research Halloween Virus
Halloween is a horror starring Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes, P J Soles and Charles Cyphers in a story about a psychotic murderer who escapes from his institution and is pursued through the streets by his doctor, while on a killing spree. Halloween was directed by John Carpenter in 1978. Research Halloween
The Simian Line is a supernatural romance starring Harry Connick Jr, Cindy Crawford, Tyne Daly, Lynn Redgrave, William Hurt, Monica Keena and Samantha Mathis in a story about three couples becoming nervous after a medium at a Halloween party predicting that one of them will break up before the New Year. The Simian Line was directed by Linda Yellen in 2000. Research The Simian Line
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Research Pumpkin
